Panoply Of Issues Addressed In This One.
In Bogdan v. Polak, Case Nos. B306264/B309780 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Apr. 6, 2022) (unpublished), landlord won a gnarly retaliatory eviction lawsuit against tenant based on some nonsuits and an eventual jury trial. In postjudgment proceedings, the lower court denied landlord’s attorney’s fees request as untimely, awarded some routine costs even though landlord failed to verify the costs memorandum, awarded expert witness fees under a CCP § 998 offer to landlord, and refused a costs-of-proof sanctions request for RFA denials.
Everything was affirmed by the appellate court, except for a reversal of the expert witness award.
Landlord’s fee motion was untimely; despite landlord’s argument that more time was allowed based on specific emergency orders during the pandemic, the appellate court found that those orders only allowed for “grace” if the litigant had difficulty filing documents, which it did on other items during the COVID-19 crisis. The denial of tenant’s motion to tax costs was correct because attaching a costs memorandum verification is not jurisdictional and landlord substantially complied with the requirements. However, the expert witness costs award was overturned because the CCP § 998 offer conditioned entry of any judgment on the offering party giving additional authority for the entry, which made the offer conditional and invalid. Finally, no costs-of-proof sanctions could be awarded because the requesting party provided a table of RFAs, answers, and trial proof, but—alas!—did not provide the record citations to support the argument.
Comments