POOF!, Prevailing Party: Court Of Appeal Determines That Defendant Did Not Prevail Such That $454,071.50 Fee And Additional Costs Award To County Went POOF!

This Was A 2-1 Decision; Dissenting Justice Would Have Given Deference To Trial Court’s Reversed Prevailing Party Determination.

            Just to show how prevailing party determinations can be to subject to different interpretations, we now post on Youssef v. County of Los Angeles, Case Nos. B302773/B306187 (2d Dist., Div. 1 July 15, 2022) (unpublished).  The equities clearly figured into the result on appeal.

            What happened here is that plaintiff filed suit against L.A. County for failure to live up to the terms of a wrongful termination settlement agreement, failing to classify his termination as a voluntary resignation in its computer systems.  Along the way, County stipulated that it had not complied and agreed to provide a direct human resource contact to divulge no more than basic information about his former employment with the County.  However, a jury found that plaintiff suffered no damages and County did not breach the settlement agreement by providing information to prospective employers.  The lower court granted $454.071.50 in attorney’s fees to County as the prevailing party and against plaintiff under a settlement agreement fees clause, as well awarding routine costs to County.

            The 2/1 DCA reversed the fees and costs awards as a matter of law, in a 2-1 opinion.  The majority decided that the County’s stipulation effectively granted plaintiff injunctive relief and that County had admitted that it breached the settlement agreement, which occurred years into the litigation.  Although plaintiff failed to obtain damages, he achieved his main goal to require the County to comply with the settlement agreement.  That meant that no party prevailed such that the huge fee award against plaintiff was unjust.  The dissenting justice saw things differently:  plaintiff did not garner damages and the County was vindicated as to prospective employer liability—such results vindicated the lower court’s prevailing party determination even though the majority came to the opposite result.

            BLOG OBSERVATION—The result in this case reminds me of what Retired Judge Tevrizian (now an independent neutral) used to sometimes say about cases where an attorney’s fees award was a matter of discretion, “pocketbook” may mean that fees are not awarded under the right circumstances.  That seemed to be the case here.