Vons Companies, Inc. v. Lyle Parks Jr., Inc.

SUMMARY

The trial court erred in refusing to award litigation costs to a litigant (The Vons Companies, Inc. (Vons)) that prevailed on two causes of action assigned to it by the original plaintiff (Mock Ranch, Inc. (Mock)) in a settlement of Mock’s complaint against Vons. The trial court did not err, however, in denying Vons’s motion for attorney fees under Civil Code section 1717, because the warranty on which Vons’s claims were based contained no attorney fee provision.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Vons and Lyle Parks Jr., Inc., were parties to a construction contract executed in July 2002. Lyle Parks was the contractor responsible for constructing improvements (a shopping center) on certain real property owned by Vons. In the construction contract, Lyle Parks warranted the work against defects, agreeing that if, within one year after completion of the contract, any of the work or materials were found to be defective, Lyle Parks would repair or replace the defective work or materials and all resulting damage. The construction contract contained an attorney fee clause stating that: “If either party files a suit against the other which is in any way connected with…