Save Our Forest & Ranchlands v. County of San Diego

In this case we are called upon to interpret and apply the provisions of California Rules of Court, rule 870.2(b), as recently amended, and Code of Civil Procedure section 473. Under rule 870.2(b) a motion to recover attorney fees incurred in the trial court in civil cases must be filed within the period permitted for filing a notice of appeal from the trial court’s judgment. While initially this limitation only applied to claims based on attorney fee provisions in contracts, by way of an amended version of the rule which became effective on January 1, 1994, this time limitation was also made applicable to statutory fee claims.

Contrary to the appellant’s argument, we find the limitation imposed by rule 870.2(b) applies to all motions for attorney fees made after the effective date of the amendment, even where, as here, at the time the underlying trial court judgment was entered, no time limit governed the appellant’s statutory claim to attorney fees. In such cases the time in which to make a motion began running when the amended version of the rule became effective.

However we also find any failure to meet the time limitation set forth in rule 870.2 is subject to…