by Andy Chen | Jul 22, 2024 | California, contracts
A question that many people involved in civil cases ask is whether they can get the other party to pay their attorney’s fees. As you might guess, many people who ask this question are defendants who have been sued for reasons that are frivolous, meritless, or some combination of the two. After all, the cost of hiring a lawyer is substantial. Why should a defendant who has done nothing wrong have to pay for an attorney when the plaintiff is the one truly at fault? In today’s post, I’m going to go over how California law answers this question. The short answer or rule of thumb to remember is that attorney’s fees and costs are generally recoverable in three scenarios: (1) when authorized by a contract signed by the parties, (2) when the law in questions itself authorizes attorney’s fees and costs to be awarded, or (3) if the judicial officer in your case awards attorney’s fees and costs for whatever reason. As you’ve perhaps seen or experienced, judges have significant discretion about how to handle the cases before them. If you’re looking for California authority on this, look at Section 1021 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which states: “Except as attorney’s fees are specifically provided for by statute, the measure and mode of compensation of attorneys and counselors at law is left to the agreement, express or implied, of the parties; but parties to actions or proceedings are entitled to their costs, as hereinafter provided.” Section 1021 also draws a distinction between fees paid to an attorney for their time and costs — for instance, court filing...
by Andy Chen | Jul 20, 2024 | California, Enterprise
Previously, I wrote about the Cost-Benefit Analysis that goes into form a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in California. My guess is that way back in the day, forming an LLC — or any kind of legal entity for a business, for that matter — was really involved. Lawyers were needed to fill out and file all sorts of forms. As a result, this was something only the rich could afford. Things have changed. Nowadays, a simple Google search will lead you to several companies that will help you form an LLC or any other kind of entity in whatever state you choose in a few minutes for a small fee. Like with many things in life, this is a mixed bag. On the one hand, starting a business using an LLC is now easier and available to more people. On the other hand, though, more and more people are starting entities like LLCs for the first-time and making all sorts of mistakes. One of these mistakes is believing incorrectly that an LLC can represent itself. In 2020, I wrote this post about how any sort of corporation can only be represented in California by an attorney. In today’s post, I’m going to go over another common mistake that people forming LLCs and other entities in California for the first-time often make, namely the Statement of Information form. In the recent past, the California Secretary of State put out an actual PDF form called a Statement of Information. That form is gone and the info instead has to be submitted via the California Secretary of State’s website. Regardless, though, the...
