Appealability, Civil Rights: Disabled Plaintiff Suing Defendant For Website Violations Under The Unruh Act Was Properly Assessed With Defense Attorney’s Fees Of $45,419.50 After Voluntarily Dismissing His Action

Plaintiff’s Injunctive Relief Allegations Triggered Civil Code Section 55, Which Allowed Fees To The Defense—Allegations Matter In These Cases.

            Sandoval v. Nippon Life Ins. Co. of America, Case No. E077245 (4^th Dist., Div. 2 Dec. 12, 2022) (unpublished) is an interesting disabled person website case which was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice after some discovery.  Plaintiff had alleged violations under the Unruh Act (although mentioning the ADA, which is incorporated into the Unruh Act), although he did not specifically plead a claim under the Disabled Persons Act (DPA).  Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed his Complaint without prejudice, and the lower court granted defendant $45,419.50 in attorney’s fees under Civil Code section 55.  Plaintiff appealed.

            But first, the panel had to face a jurisdictional issue.  Defendant argued that the fee order was not appealable because it was a costs award following on the heels of a non-appealable voluntary dismissal.  The appellate court found that the fee order was the equivalent of a costs award and, even though there was a split of opinion on the issue, it was appealable.  (Gassner v. Stasa, 30 Cal.App.5^th 346, 355 (2018).)

            On the merits, plaintiff argued there was no fee exposure because (a) under the ADA, a prevailing defendant can recover fees only if the ADA claim is found frivolous, something not found here (true—Jankey v. Lee, 55 Cal.4^th 1038, 1048 (2012)); and (b) under the Unruh Act, only a prevailing plaintiff can recover fees (true—Molski v. Arcero Wine Group, 164 Cal.App.4^th 786, 791 (2008)).   Although the DPA has a bilateral fee provision (Civ. Code, § 55), plaintiff argued there was no fee exposure because he did not plead a DPA claim.  The appellate court agreed with all of these conclusions, but it found that a broad prayer for injunctive relief under Plaintiff’s Complaint for potentially aggrieved persons triggered section 55 fee exposure because that injunctive relief is cumulative to injunctive relief under the Unruh Act and DPA.  So, section 55 fee exposure was triggered—with the moral being for plaintiffs in these type of cases, be careful of how you plead website cases if you want to avoid fee exposure.