Krug

I. INTRODUCTION

In 1978, the California Legislature enacted a statute permitting persons who are victims of specified types of harassment to seek injunctive relief against the harassing party. The statute has always provided that the trial court may award attorney fees to the prevailing party in an action brought under the statute. In the more than 30 years since the statute’s enactment, however, no published opinion has squarely decided the question whether a prevailing defendant in an action under the statute can recover attorney fees when the action, though unsuccessful, was neither frivolous nor brought in bad faith.

In the published portion of this opinion, we conclude that a prevailing defendant can recover attorney fees in an action for injunctive relief against harassment, even if the action was brought in good faith and is not frivolous, if the trial court decides in its discretion to award such fees. As we discuss in the unpublished portion of this opinion, we find no abuse of that discretion in the trial court’s order in the present case. We therefore affirm.

II. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Appellant Jacqueline Krug and respondent Michael Maschmeier are…