California Court of Appeal

The trial court erred in awarding interim attorney fees to the defendant-former attorneys for filing a successful petition to compel arbitration of plaintiffs' claims for breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and declaratory relief, where: 1) attorney fees can be awarded only to the parties that prevail in the action; 2) a petition to compel arbitration filed in a pending lawsuit is not an action; and 3) because only one side, plaintiffs or their former attorneys, can prevail in enforcing the contingency fee agreement, the determination of the prevailing parties must await the resolution of the underlying claims by an arbitrator.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/03/2013
• Published 07/03/2013

Judges

• MALLANO

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel