Court Opinion

ID: 9731603
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:52:02.874991+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:20.082483
License: Public Domain

KLINE, P. J.
I concur in the majority opinion because I do not understand it to alter the settled principle that parties to public interest litigation who “contribute in a significant way to the vindication of an important constitutional or statutory right” (Crawford v. Board of Education (1988) 200 Cal.App.3d 1397, 1407 [246 Cal.Rptr. 806]) are entitled to an award of reasonable attorneys fees under the private attorney general doctrine. (Code of Civ. Proc., § 1021.5)
“[S]ection 1021.5 was intended to be used as a tool against any individual or entity, public or private” (County of Fresno v. Lehman, ante, 340, at p. 349 [280 Cal.Rptr. 310] italics in original). Accordingly, such fees have been awarded against private parties. (See, e.g., Braude v. Automobile Club of Southern Cal. (1986) 178 Cal.App.3d 994, 1011 [223 Cal.Rptr. 914].) There is no reason in logic or in law why a successful plaintiff otherwise entitled to receive a fee award should be deprived of this benefit simply because it was assisted by a public agency, though such assistance might affect the amount of fees awarded. However, because the amount of fees that should be awarded requires an “intensely factual [and] pragmatic” inquiry (Crawford v. Board of Education, supra, 200 Cal.App.3d at p. 1407), it is impossible in the abstract to identify or evaluate all the considerations that in a given case may properly bear upon the determination.
Respondents’ petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied July 11, 1991.