Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I filed an action if unlimited superior court on a statute that provided attorney fees to the prevailing party. I am not an attorney, and filed the action in pro per. I won my case. I filled out a form for costs prior to judgment and timely submitted the form. ON the form, in the place reserved for attorney fees, I crossed out attorney and put non-attorney pro per x $25.00 per hour, added up my hours for the total, submitted a time sheet as an exhibit and filed the Request for Costs sheet. On judgment day, Judge said I was not entitled to attorney fees, because you are not an attorney. I attempted to show the judge that I had not requested hourly fees as an attorney by pointing out the crossed out attorney fee line. But judge looked at me kindly and said, you won your case, you have a judgment, but you are not entitled to attorney fees, and gave me a fatherly look that said...end of story, don't argue with me or I'll get wrathful...So I said thank you your honor and left with my judgment. Was that fair? I had to do a lot of work to win that case. If the other side represented side had won, wouldn't they have gotten their attorney fees?


Asked on 12/01/12, 3:00 pm

4 Answers from Attorneys
Armen Tashjian Law Offices of Armen M. Tashjian

If the other side had prevailed, and if they were represented by an attorney, then they would be entitled to attorney fees. The code says attorney fees. It doesn't say pro per fees. So, the judge was correct in following the law.

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Answered on 12/01/12, 3:31 pm

Fair? Maybe not. Correctly decided under the law? Absolutely. You don't get attorneys fees if you don't incur attorneys fees. Period. If you don't like it, talk to the legislature. They are the ones who make statutes.

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Answered on 12/01/12, 3:35 pm
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

I agree with Mr. Tashjian and Mr. McCormick. The law is quite clear that pro pers cannot recover attorney fees for their own time. There are good arguments for and against this rule but, at least for now, it's what the law says. The judge made the right call.

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Answered on 12/01/12, 7:08 pm

Just by the way, there is even authority for the proposition that if I represent myself I cannot recover attorneys fees for my time. Attorneys fees awards are only available to compensate a client who has had to pay an attorney.

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Answered on 12/01/12, 7:20 pm


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