Deadlines, SLAPP: Successful SLAPPing Defendants’ Award Of $33,120 In Attorney Fees And $91.85 In Costs Reversed On Appeal Due To Trial Court’s Flawed Legal Analysis In Determining Deadline For Fees/Costs Motion

Holidays Did Not Stop The Clock On Defendants’ Deadline And Code Civ. Proc., § 664.5 Does Not Govern When The Clock Begins Under Rule 8.104.

            In Tye v. Papp, Case No. E076523 (4^th Dist., Div. 2 May 9, 2022) (unpublished), defendants were awarded $33,120 in attorney fees and $91.85 in costs under Code Civ. Proc. section 425.16 after the trial court dismissed the entire action based on Defendants' successful anti-SLAPP motion.  On appeal, Plaintiff argued that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to rule on the fees motion, that defendants’ fees/costs motion was untimely, and that the amount awarded constituted an abuse of discretion.

            Plaintiff's jurisdictional argument failed because there are exceptions to the general rule that a trial court lacks jurisdiction to conduct further proceedings as to a party it has dismissed from an action. In this case, the exception was the requirement that the trial court determine and enforce defendants’ collateral statutory rights (e.g. motions for fees/costs). (Shisler v. Sanfer Sports Cars, Inc. 167 Cal.App.4^th 1, 7 (2008); Pittman v. Beck Park Apartments Ltd., 20 Cal.App.5^th 1009, 1022 (2018).) 

            As to the timeliness issue, however, the 4/2 DCA determined that the trial court’s legal analysis concerning the deadline for defendants’ fees/costs motion was erroneous.  Plaintiff provided a proof of service indicating defendants were served with a notice of entry of judgment by mail.  This service started the clock on defendants’ 60-day deadline for filing their fees/costs motion, plus five additional days for service by mail. (California Rules of Court, Rules 3.1702(b) and 8.104(a)(1)(B).) However, defendants – who claimed to have not been served with the notice of entry of judgment – exceeded this 65-day window by more than two weeks. Nonetheless, the trial court determined defendants’ motion was timely under rule 8.104(a)(1)(B) based on its findings that none of the days from March 17, 2020 to May 31, 2020 counted toward the 60-day window because they had been declared holidays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and on its holding that the notice of entry of judgment was invalid because plaintiff did not comply with Code Civ. Proc., § 664.5(a) requirement that he file with the trial court the original notice of entry of judgment together with the proof of service.  First, the appellate panel found, holidays do not stop the clock on filing deadlines and generally only affect a filing deadline when the deadline falls on a holiday. (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 12, 12a(a).) Second, the panel found that § 664.5 does not govern when the 60-day window begins, and rule 8.104 does not incorporate § 664.5’s requirements.  As a result, the 4/2 DCA reversed and remanded for additional proceedings to determine whether defendants were served with the notice of entry of judgment, and, if so, whether their motion was timely.

            Finally, because the panel reversed the award and remanded for additional proceedings on the timeliness issue, it found plaintiff’s abuse of discretion claim not ripe for review.