Judge: Lawrence Cho, Case: 24IWUD00340, Date: 2024-10-11 Tentative Ruling

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Case Number: 24IWUD00340    Hearing Date: October 11, 2024    Dept: K

Case No.:        24IWUD00340

Hearing:        10/11/24

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1.                                                       DEFENDANT’ MOTION FOR ATTORNEY’S FEES                            GRANTED

2.                                                       PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SANCTIONS                                           GRANTED

TENTATIVE RULING

1. Attorney’s Fees

            Defendant (“D”) is the prevailing party in this UD action against his Plaintiff Landlord (“P”).  Both sides agree that Paragraph 8 of the lease agreement caps attorney’s fees at $500 and that D is the prevailing party.  The only dispute is that D requested $1,500 on the cover page of his motion, which appears to be a typo because within the body of his brief he repeatedly requests only $500.  P concedes that P D entitled to $500 in attorney’s fees.  Thus, this Court awards $500 in attorney’s fees to defense counsel.  

2. Sanctions

P seeks sanctions against D per CCP § 128.5 for proceeding on his motion for $1,500 in

Attorney’s fees when only $500 is permitted per the lease agreement.  This Court agrees that D’s motion is “made in bad faith” and “frivolous.”  Although sanctions may appear harsh for what appears to have been a typo in D’s Brief, the aggravating factor which pushes an innocent mistake into the field of frivolity and bad faith is the fact that P’s counsel made no less than 5 attempts to contact D’s counsel (Sept. 13^th, 18^th, 19^th , 22^nd , and 30^th) to informally resolve the ambiguity in D’s brief and received no response.  Moreover, D’s failure to respond to P’s inquiries is further compounded by the fact that P’s even left a message that it would be willing to stipulate to the $500 in attorney’s fees if only D would clarify its position to request only that amount.  In short, this ambiguity should have been cleared up with a simple return telephone call rather than wasting both P counsel’s time as well as that of this Court.  For these reasons, D is sanctioned $500.

            As an offset, P is ordered to pay the $500 in attorney’s fees to the Clerk of this Court and this Court will thereby deem D’s sanctions paid in full.  Such payment to occur within 5 days of this hearing.