Prevailing Party: Lower Court’s Determination That Cross-Defendant Did Not Prevail In Lawsuit, Where Cross-Defendant Paid Some Settlement Funds To Plaintiff and Dueling Summary Adjudication/Motions Were Granted, Was No Abuse Of Discretion

Cross-Defendant Did Not Obtain Its Crucial Litigation Objectives.

            Catalina Media Development, LLC v. Thyssenkrupp Elevator Corp., Case Nos. B306012/B309162 (2d Dist., Div. 1 July 20, 2022) (unpublished) demonstrates how a discretionary no “prevailing party” determination is not easily overturned unless it is lopsided in nature.

            In this one, a servicer responsible for elevator maintenance was sued on cross claims by the owner of a building when a personal injury plaintiff allegedly was injured in an elevator incident. The servicer lost a summary adjudication motion on the duty to defend under a contractual indemnification clause vis-à-vis owner, both sides settled with plaintiff (servicer paid $99,000 and owner $11,000), and owner lost a summary judgment by servicer under which servicer had no ultimate liability to owner.  The lower court granted routine costs to servicer and against owner based on the summary judgment on owner’s cross-complaint, but it denied any attorney’s fees to servicer.

            Servicer’s appeal of the “no prevailing party” determination as to fees did not result in any change.  With respect to main litigation objectives, servicer did not achieve them because (1) it did not get its legal defense costs paid; (2) it did not beat back the obligation to pay owner’s defense costs under a duty to defend analysis; and (3) it did have to pay plaintiff some settlement moneys.  The dueling rulings on the summary adjudication/judgment motions was evidence that the parties got mixed results.