Fillet

In a complicated litigation matter involving several parties, the trial court refused to consider an attorney fee motion, finding that the motion was untimely filed. The court erroneously determined that the entry of an order granting summary judgment triggered the running of the time limit for the filing of the attorney fee motion, under California Rules of Court, rule 870.2(b)(1), even though no summary judgment had ever been entered. However, an order granting summary judgment is not an appealable order and the entry of the order did not trigger the attorney fee motion filing deadline under rule 870.2(b)(1). The trial court’s error is understandable considering the number of appellate court opinions that are confusing with respect to the appealability of an order granting summary judgment. We hope to provide some clarity on the point.

We reverse the order denying the attorney fee motion and remand the matter to the trial court for a hearing on that motion. The court’s ruling on the motion for relief under Code of Civil Procedure section 473 is moot. We deny the request to file a late opposition to the motion for factual determinations and also deny the motion for…