Quarterman

Plaintiffs sued their next-door neighbor and the paint contractor who sanded and repainted the neighbor’s old Victorian house in San Francisco, alleging that the topsoil in their backyard had been contaminated by lead-bearing paint dust and paint chips. Plaintiffs sought damages based on theories of trespass, nuisance, and negligence. A jury awarded plaintiffs economic damages of $120,850 and noneconomic damages of $25,000.

Plaintiffs sought attorney fees pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.9, which authorizes an award of fees in an action for damages to real property “resulting from trespassing on lands either under cultivation or intended or used for the raising of livestock . . . .” We conclude in the published portion of this opinion that the trial court correctly denied fees, because plaintiffs’ urban backyard is not “lands . . . under cultivation” within the meaning of that statute.

I.-III.

IV. Cross-appeal by the Quartermans

A. Attorney Fees

After the jury rendered its verdict in their favor, plaintiffs John W. Quarterman and his wife Fabienne Blanc (the Quartermans) sought attorney fees of over $420,000, based on Code of Civil Procedure section…