California Court of Appeal

In this case, defendant, a prominent Guam attorney, was sued in multiple lawsuits. Defendant hired plaintiff law firm to represent him. The representation quickly generated significant billings about which defendant came to complain, ultimately refusing to pay a large balance. Plaintiff withdrew from the representation and sued. This appeal involves two issues arising out of two post judgment filings by plaintiff, a memorandum of costs and a motion for attorney fees based on the engagement letter that defendant had signed with the firm. The trial court's order awarding plaintiff $1,532,674 in attorney fees and $123,227 in expert witness fees, based on a Code of Civil Procedure section 998 offer, is affirmed, where: 1) the fee involved representation in five actions and seven underlying matters, which was hardly run-of-the-mill and thus justified the seemingly excessive costs; 2) the amount of attorney fees incurred by plaintiff was increased by defendant's own conduct; and 3) the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it did not conduct an apportionment of the fees, as a trial court may choose to apportion fees, it is not otherwise necessary.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/19/2015
• Published 02/19/2015

Judges

• Richman

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel