de la Cuesta v. Benham, 193 Cal. App. 4th 1287 (2011)

Citation: de la Cuesta v. Benham, 193 Cal. App. 4th 1287 (2011)
Parent Document: de la Cuesta v. Benham, 193 Cal. App. 4th 1287 (2011)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2011-03-29
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/5810133/de-la-cuesta-v-benham/ ↗

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Another reason trial courts cannot have unfettered discretion to make a “no prevailing party” determination in a case of lopsided results is to avoid a potential anomaly inherent in the “complete victory” standard. Consider: Most of the time, attorneys have an incentive to assert the maximal claims possible on behalf of their clients. (Sometimes they get sued themselves if they don’t!) But if anything less than complete victory means that a client loses what would otherwise have been “prevailing party” status under section 1717, the attorney is crunched into a dilemma. Risk a malpractice suit by not asserting maximal claims, or risk a malpractice suit by forfeiting “prevailing party” status under section 1717 by asserting maximal claims.

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