Ideal Homes v. DenHoy
William DenHoy (DenHoy) is the owner of the Blue & Gold Mobilehome Park (Park) located in the City of Santa Cruz. Ideal Homes (Ideal), a manufactured homes dealer, sued DenHoy, alleging that he illegally prevented it from conducting business in the Park. The case proceeded to trial on Ideals claims for violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, 51; hereafter Unruh Act),[1] and for intentional interference with contractual relations. The jury returned a verdict in DenHoys favor, and he then sought to recover more than $150,000 in attorney fees incurred in the litigation. DenHoy argued, inter alia, that he was entitled to fees as the prevailing party under section 798.85, which permits the recovery of attorney fees by a prevailing party in an action arising out of the Mobilehome Residency Law ( 798 et seq.; hereafter MRL). The court denied the motion.
On appeal, DenHoy argues that the court erred because he was entitled to attorney fees as the prevailing party (1) to an action arising under the MRL; (2) to an intentional interference with contract claim, where the subject contracts each contained an attorney fee provision; and (3) to Ideals claim under the Unruh Act. Court conclude that DenHoy was entitled to recover attorney fees under none of these theories. Accordingly, Court will affirm the order denying his attorney fee motion.
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