Zalewa v. Tempo Research
We remanded this employment case to the trial court to determine (1) if attorney fees are authorized by statute following our reversal of the judgment in favor of plaintiffs, and (2) if fees are authorized, are they warranted by the facts of the case. On remand, both sides submitted demands for attorney fees to the trial court. The court awarded fees to plaintiff former employees as the “prevailing party†under Labor Code section 218.5.[1]
We reverse. Plaintiffs were not the prevailing party: they lost the case because their demands for bonuses were unfounded. Given that plaintiffs had no right to bonuses after they were laid off, defendants’ payment of money to some former employees during the litigation was a gift that cannot be viewed—as a matter of law—as a “catalyst†warranting an award of attorney fees to plaintiffs.
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