Judge: Mark C. Kim, Case: 20LBCV00399, Date: 2022-09-13 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 20LBCV00399 Hearing Date: September 13, 2022 Dept: S27
Plaintiff, Galvez Trucking, Inc. (“Galvez”)
filed this action against Defendant, Herrera Bros Trucking Corp. (Herrera) for
breach of contract, open book account, account stated, and quantum meruit. Plaintiff alleges it entered into a contract with
Defendant pursuant to which Defendant was to pay Plaintiff a 10% referral fee
for work on a construction project. Defendant
completed the work and received payment for the work, but refused to pay Plaintiff
the fee.
The action went to trial by bench on
4/29/22 and the trial concluded on the same day. At the conclusion of the trial, the Court
awarded judgment in favor of Plaintiff and against Defendant in the total
amount of $24,286.23.
This action was grounded in the
contract between Plaintiff and Defendant, and the parties’ contract contains an
attorneys’ fees provision. Because Plaintiff
prevailed in the action, Plaintiff seeks to recover its attorneys’ fees in the total
amount of $20,420.00.
Plaintiff is entitled to attorneys’
fees pursuant to Civil Code §1717.
Plaintiff provided prima facie evidence, by way of its attorney’s declaration,
as well as the attached billing records, showing the amount was both reasonably
and actually incurred, and in the absence of opposition, the Court will grant
the motion. There is only one exception:
Plaintiff seeks to recover three hours of attorney time to draft a reply to
this motion and appear at the hearing. Because
there was no opposition, no reply was necessary, and the Court reduces the time
from three hours to one hour. Because
Campbell bills at the rate of $400/hour, the Court reduces the total attorneys’
fees awarded by $800.
Plaintiff is awarded its attorneys’
fees in the amount of $19,620.00.
Plaintiff is ordered to give
notice.
Parties who intend to submit
on this tentative must send an email to the court at gdcdepts27@lacourt.org indicating intention to submit on the tentative as
directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org. If the department
does not receive an email indicating the parties are submitting on the tentative
and there are no appearances at the hearing, the motion may be placed off calendar. If a party submits on the tentative, the
party’s email must include the case number and must identify the party
submitting on the tentative. If the parties
do not submit on the tentative, they should arrange to appear remotely.