Lucky United Properties Investment, Inc. v. Lee

Albert Lee (Lee) appeals from an order that granted respondents’ motion to compel Lee to acknowledge the satisfaction of a prior order for attorney fees and costs (Code Civ. Proc., § 724.050) and denied in part Lee’s motion for other attorney fees and costs incurred in the proceeding. The appeal reflects the complexities that can arise when a party who prevailed on an anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) motion to strike (§ 425.16) exercises his right to seek attorney fees and costs in connection with the motion, successfully defends against the opposing parties’ appeals, and attempts to enforce the judgment against opponents who pay some of the amounts awarded but refuse to pay other amounts. We will reverse the order, but not entirely for the reasons Lee asserts.

I. Facts and Procedural History

The underlying lawsuit, filed back in 1999, arose out of a contract dispute over the purchase of real property in San Francisco. The facts and procedural history are set forth in our unpublished opinion, Woo v. Lien (Oct. 2, 2002, A094960), and we need not belabor them here.

In July 2006, Eric Lien (Lien) initiated the instant case by filing a malicious…