Barbanell

Filed 12/17/25; Certified for Publication 1/8/26 (order attached)

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

ROBERTA V. BARBANELL, as Trustee, D084193 etc. et al., (Super. Ct. No. 37-2023- Respondents, 00022902-CU-PT-NC)

v.

RAYMOND E. LODGE et al.,

Appellants.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Earl H. Maas III, Judge. Affirmed. Plante Huguenin Lebovic Kahn, Edward R. Huguenin and James L. Bothwell for Appellants. Klinedinst PC, Carey L. Cooper and Theodore S. Wolter for Respondents. Appellants, Raymond E. Lodge and Condor’s Nest, LLC (collectively, Lodge), challenge the superior court’s postjudgment award of attorney fees to respondents, Roberta V. Barbanell, El Rancho De Vida, El Rancho De Vida Three, LLC, and El Rancho De Vida Four, LLC (collectively, the Barbanell entities), following the Barbanell’s successful petition to appoint an arbitrator to resume arbitration proceedings concerning the parties’ contract disputes. Lodge argues that the Barbanell entities could not have been prevailing parties in the underlying action because the parties had…