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Article: California Supreme Court Endorses "Catalyst" Theory for Awarding Attorneys' Fees to Plaintiffs in Unsuccessful Public Interest Litigation.
- Article from:
- Mondaq Business Briefing
- Article date:
- January 26, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Mondaq Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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State's High Court Refuses to Follow United States Supreme Court's Rejection of "Catalyst" Theory
On December 2, 2004, the California Supreme Court issued two important opinions that may greatly increase the exposure of defendants to attorneys' fee awards in cases involving the "public interest." Defendants may now face substantial attorneys' fee awards, even where no court has ruled in their opponents' favor, and even where the underlying case has been dismissed prior to any final judicial ruling.
In Graham v. DaimlerChrysler Corporation and Tipton-Whittingham v. City of Los Angeles a sharply divided California Supreme Court endorsed the so-called ...