Judge: Glenn R. Salter, Case: 21-1188037, Date: 2023-08-03 Tentative Ruling

This is a Lemon Law case.  It has settled and, pursuant to the settlement agreement, plaintiff filed a motion for an award of reasonably incurred attorney fees.  Counsel seeks fees based on the hourly rates charged in the Los Angeles and Orange County legal communities.

The problem is that the case should have been venued in Fresno County.

Plaintiff is a resident of Fresno County, and the vehicle was purchased there.  Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 395, subdivision (b), the case should have been filed or transferred there.  Moreover, all the potential witnesses are there and transfer of the case to Fresno County would have been justified.  (See, e.g., Rycz v. Superior Court (2022) 81 Cal.App.5th 824.)

At least one unpublished case from the Court of Appeal in Fresno has indicated that Los Angles attorneys who fly in to try a Lemon Law case there can only seek attorney fees based on the local Fresno rates.  (See Smart v. Ford Motor Company (C087422, Jan. 21, 2020, 2020 WL284623.)  It is an unpublished case, but this court finds its reasoning persuasive.

The court finds the corollary true, as well.  A request for attorney fees for a Fresno case filed in Orange County shall be adjudged based on Fresno County rates.

Both sides were given an opportunity to file supplemental briefs addressing the analysis in Smart, and to address why this relatively simple case took so long to resolve.  (See ROAs 167 & 172.)  Neither side submitted a supplemental brief.

The court will take the matter under submission.