Plaintiff seller appealed an order after the Superior Court of Monterey County (California) entered a judgment in favor of plaintiff. The trial court awarded plaintiff limited contractual attorney fees and ordered a judicial foreclosure of a parcel of real property giving plaintiff deficiency judgment credit for diminution in the value of the property due to petroleum contamination.
California Business Lawyer & Corporate Lawyer, Inc. shares the definition of public nuisance California
Overview
Plaintiff seller sold assets to defendant buyer via a series of agreements. After the sale closed, defendant accused plaintiff of concealing that there had been a leak in a storage tank and ceased performing its obligations under the agreements. Plaintiff filed suit, but the parties settled. Subsequently, defendant discovered petroleum contamination at a storage plant and stopped performing its obligations under the new agreements. Plaintiff filed a lawsuit alleging a breach of contract, and defendant counterclaimed for fraud. The trial court awarded plaintiff limited contractual attorney fees and ordered a judicial foreclosure, which plaintiff appealed. The court reversed. The court found that the trial court erred in apportioning its award of attorney fees between the offensive and defensive aspects of the instant matter and in applying the put agreement attorney fees to the deficiency limitation clause. Plaintiff was required to defend against fraud in order to succeed on his complaint to enforce the agreements and thus, the cost of litigating the fraud issue constituted part of the cost of enforcing the contracts. The court did not review the deficiency judgment credit issue.
Outcome
The court reversed the judgment for plaintiff and the order of sale, and remanded the matter. The trial court was directed to enter an amended judgment, which awarded plaintiff reasonable attorney fees for defensive aspects of instant matter, and provided that awards for attorney fees were supplemental to underlying contractual relief awarded plaintiff. The trial court was also directed to award plaintiff reasonable attorney fees for appeal.
