Landlord/Tenant, Reasonableness Of Fees: $684,000 Fee Award In Favor Of Tenants And Against Landlord Reversed And Remanded

Appellate Court Did Not Buy That Trial Court Could Just Adopt Plaintiffs’ Voluntary Reduction Without Addressing Other Objections.

            We posted today about a published decision between the parties.  Separately, Sarkany v. West, Case No. A161728 (1^st Dist., Div. 2 Aug. 30, 2022) (unpublished) was landlords’ appeal from an adverse $684,000 attorney’s fees award in favor of tenants after a favorable jury verdict, with the fee entitlement not being contested.  Without much of an explanation, plaintiffs reduced their $1.134 million fee request (inclusive of a 1.5 multiplier) by $141,245.50.  The trial court bought it, awarding a little over $684,000 to plaintiffs on the lodestar request, but denying a positive multiplier. The appellate court did not buy it.  The voluntary reduction did not address the defense objections to the fee motion, much less the trial judge’s concerns that a reduction might be justified based on plaintiffs’ sanctionable and litigious conduct.  It simply could not determine that these factors were considered, so a re-do was ordered.  One of the defendants argued no fee award was justified based on indigency, but the appellate court could only find this was a consideration for a plaintiff’s indigency, not a defendant’s indigency.  (Garcia v. Santana, 174 Cal.App.4^th 464, 476 (2009).)