VVA-Two, LLC v. Impact Development Group, LLC (2020) 48 Cal.App.5th 985.

This is an arbitration award which gets affirmed at both the trial court level and on appeal, but it is a little unusual. The arbitrator provided what was potentially an incremental remedy by allowing a party to enforce contracts but retaining jurisdiction. The court interpreted this as still being a final arbitration award and it was not interlocutory or non-appealable because it did resolve all issues between the parties, even if the circumstances might change. The court also found that the arbitrator didn’t exceed his powers because the agreement did not exclusively prohibit the specific remedies that were awarded and a rational relationship existed between those remedies the arbitrator’s interpretation of the contract.

Changsha Metro Group Co., Ltd v. Xufeng (2020) 49 Cal.App.5th 173. This is a SLAPP action. The court ordered the Defendants to pay the Plaintiff’s attorney $61,915 for opposing a frivolous anti-SLAPP motion which had been filed by the Defendants. The request for attorneys’ fees was properly submitted and Plaintiff’s opposition to Defendant’s SLAPP motion, and the proper procedure was set forth in CCP § 128.5(a)(c) which the trial court properly followed in awarding attorneys’ fees to the Plaintiff.

Related Attorney(s):
Gregory L. McCoy