No Prevailing Party Discretionary Determination Affirmed On Appeal, With Concurring Justice Also Observing That The Lack Of A Reporter’s Transcript Of The Fee Hearing Was Fatal.
In Deep Green Nation Collision, Inc. v. Park, Case No. B339499 (2d Dist., Div. 5 June 9, 2025) (unpublished), plaintiff won a jury verdict of $256,851 on breach of contract (but only on one of four alleged breaches) and conversion claims, but it lost four claims on a nonsuit and another quiet title claim in the jury trial. Based on a comparison of the relief requested in the complaint (with plaintiff only winning about 25%) and in plaintiff’s trial brief (getting worse, only about 14%), the trial judge found that plaintiff was not a prevailing party under a contractual fees clause, where plaintiff requested $253,440 in fees.
The 2/5 DCA affirmed on appeal in a 3-0 opinion, including a concurring opinion. The majority saw no reason to disturb the “no prevailing party” determination under an abuse of discretion standard given the mixed results. That was still the result, even though a $1 million punitive damages request was not properly factored into the “prevailing party” analysis, because it was a harmless error—plaintiff still had mixed results which would not impact the ultimate lower court conclusion. The dissenting justice (Justice Baker) concurred in the result, but he based this upon plaintiff not providing a reporter’s transcript of fee and other proceedings to determine if there was an abuse of discretion.
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