Wiles v. McClure CA1/3

Filed 8/27/21 Wiles v. McClure CA1/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

MARK WILES, Plaintiff and Respondent, A161165 v. KIM J. MCCLURE, Individually and (Alameda County as Trustee, etc., Super. Ct. No. RG19011899) Defendant and Appellant.

The trial court awarded defendant Kim J. McClure $2,671.50 in attorney fees as the prevailing party in a retaliatory eviction action (Civ. Code, § 1942.5, subd. (i)) filed by plaintiff Mark Wiles.1 McClure appeals. He contends the court erred by awarding him only a fraction of the attorney fees he requested. We disagree and affirm. BACKGROUND We recite only those facts necessary to resolve the issue on appeal and disregard factual assertions in the parties’ briefs that are unsupported by

Undesignated statutory references are to the Civil Code. Section 1

1942.5, subdivision (i) provides that in “any action brought for damages for retaliatory eviction, the court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party if either party requests attorney’s fees upon the initiation of the action.”

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record citations. (Falcon v. Long Beach Genetics, Inc. (2014) 224 Cal.App.4th 1263, 1267.) A. Wiles is intellectually and physically disabled. He cannot work. His only source of income is government assistance. In 2002, with the assistance of a federal housing subsidy, Wiles rented an apartment in a building owned by McClure. In 2018, McClure filed an unlawful detainer action against Wiles. A short time later, the parties settled. They signed a stipulation for entry of judgment or dismissal (2018 stipulation) providing that with “the exception of the rights set forth herein, the parties waive any and all other rights arising from this tenancy.” (Italics added.) The following year, Wiles filed a lawsuit against McClure. The complaint alleged claims arising out of Wiles’s tenancy, including a cause of action for retaliatory eviction. Wiles requested attorney fees. After answering the complaint and conducting discovery, McClure moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the waiver provision in the 2018 stipulation barred the lawsuit. The court agreed. It granted the summary judgment motion, then entered judgment for McClure. B. McClure initially moved for $26,715 in attorney fees pursuant to section 1942.5, subdivision (i).2 In a supporting declaration, counsel for McClure averred four attorneys and four paralegals spent more than 70 hours defending the lawsuit. The attorneys’ hourly rates ranged from $300 to