PublicCEO
A large attorneys’ fees award under the private attorney general statute was recently affirmed by a California Appellate Court. The case,
Beach, is notable not just for the large amount of the award, but that the award was issued jointly and severally against the City of Redondo Beach and the private developers, who were real parties in interest.
Although the Second District Court of Appeal’s decision on this matter, issued in February, is not published, the opinion serves as a good reminder for local jurisdictions to think about potential attorneys’ fees awards when considering development projects. Most jurisdictions do impose indemnification conditions as part of their approvals, but this case shows the importance of ensuring fees are tracked and paid on a concurrent basis throughout the transactional and litigation processes, as well as potentially thinking about options for how to ensure jurisdictions can collect on the indemnification provisions if a lar