Judge: Mark E. Windham, Case: LAM11K00139, Date: 2023-12-07 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: LAM11K00139    Hearing Date: December 7, 2023    Dept: 26

Carpenter v. Landis, et al.

MOTION TO COLLECT ONLY ATTORNEY’S FEES

(Code Civ. Proc., §§ 128(a)(4), 177(b), 187, 410.50)

TENTATIVE RULING:

Motion of Attorney Morse Mehrban for Order Permitting Collection Only of Attorney Fees Awarded as Part of Judgment is DENIED.

ANALYSIS:

On December 1, 2011, the Court entered judgment in favor of Judgment Creditor John Caarpenter (“Judgment Creditor”) and against Judgment Debtor William Landis (“Judgment Debtor”). The judgment was renewed on June 3, 2020. On December 10, 2021, a writ of execution was issued with respect to the judgment.

On October 6, 2022, the Court granted Judgment Debtor’s Motion to Recall and Quash Writ of Execution and Vacate Notice of Levy on the grounds that Judgment Creditor had passed away before the writ of execution was issued. (Minute Order, 10/06/22.)

On September 28, 2023, Judgment Creditor’s attorney, Morse Mehrban (“Mehrban”) filed the instant Motion for Order Permitting Judgment Creditor’s Attorney to Collect Only the Attorney’s Fees Awarded as Part of Judgment. Judgment Debtor filed an opposition on November 21, 2023.

Discussion

Moving party Morse Mehrban (“Mehrban”), counsel of record for Judgment Creditor in this action, moves for an order allowing him to collect only the attorney’s fees awarded with the judgment. The Motion is brought on the grounds that the Court has the inherent and statutory power to compel obedience to its judgments and orders. This authority is set forth in various statutes, including Code of Civil Procedure section 128, subdivision (a)(4), section 177, subdivision (b), and articulated in case law. (See Blueberry Properties, LLC v. Chow (2014) 230 Cal.App.4th 1017, 1021-1022.) The Court also has all the means necessary to carry its jurisdiction into effect and may adopt “any suitable process or mode of proceeding” in the exercise of its jurisdiction. (Code Civ. Proc., § 187.)

Mehrban contends that the attorney’s fees awarded as part of the judgment in this action, and any accruing interest, belong to him such that he is a judgment creditor as defined by Code of Civil Procedure section 680.240. In support of this contention, Mehrban cites to the following cases: Flannery v. Prentice (2001) 26 Cal.4th 572, Hernandez v. Siegel (2014) 230 Cal.App.4th 165, and Lindelli v. Town of San Anselmo (2006) 139 Cal.App.4th 1499.

Flannery involved a case where there was no proof of an enforceable agreement between the client and attorney for the disposition of the attorney’s fees. (Flannery v. Prentice (2001) 26 Cal.4th 572, 575.) The Court of Appeals ruled that “any proceeds of a [Government Code] section 12965 fee award exceeding fees the client already has paid belong, absent a contractual agreement validly disposing of them, to the attorneys for whose work they are awarded.” (Id. at 577, 591.) In Hernandez v. Siegel (2014) 230 Cal.App.4th 165, the case concerned whether interest on attorney’s fees belonged to the client or attorney where the agreement between the client and attorneys expressly made clear that the attorney’s fees belonged to the attorneys. (Hernandez v. Siegel (2014) 230 Cal.App.4th 165, 174.) Finally, the Motion cites Lindelli v. Town of San Anselmo (2006) 139 Cal.App.4th 1499, which relied on the ruling of Flannery to hold the attorneys also had a right to move for the fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5. (Lindelli v. Town of San Anselmo (2006) 139 Cal.App.4th 1499, 1509-1510.)

The instant Motion, however, does not analyze the circumstances of these cited cases—that “prevailing party” can include a prevailing attorney and there is no enforceable agreement awarding the attorney’s fees to the litigant—to demonstrate that they are applicable to this action. (Motion, p. 3:14-21.) Nor does the Motion include any supporting evidence for such an analysis.

Conclusion

Motion of Attorney Morse Mehrban for Order Permitting Collection Only of Attorney Fees Awarded as Part of Judgment is DENIED.

Court clerk to give notice.