They Come in Groups

Etcheson v. FCA US LLC, No. D072793 (D4d1 Dec. 27, 2018)

This case is pretty similar to the Warren case decided by the 4/2 two weeks ago. Like Warren, it's a Song-Beverly lemon law case where an attorney’s fee demand significantly exceeded the client's damages. Here, the trial court found that the Plaintiff was unreasonable in litigating the case after Defendant made a Code of Civil Procedure § 998 offer, even though the award Plaintiff ultimately obtained doubled the offer. The court awarded less than $3k in fees.

That was error. As we discussed re Warren, when the Legislature enacted the Song-Beverly Act, it specified that fees should be awarded based on the actual time expended by the attorney. In doing so, it was well aware that fee awards could exceed the amount in controversy. That permits consumers to obtain qualified counsel to enforce their rights, which would not be economically feasible if they needed to hire lawyers on contingency. Plaintiff wasn’t required to accept the § 998, and shouldn’t suffer negative consquences for beating it. 

Reversed.