Fair

R. Thomas Fair (Fair), Bronco RE Corporation (Bronco), BRE Boulevard LLC (Boulevard) and BRE Cameron Creek LLC (Cameron) (collectively, defendants) appeal from a judgment following the trial court’s grant of a motion pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 664.6 by J.B.B. Investment Partners, Ltd. (JBB), and Silvester Rabie (collectively, plaintiffs) to enforce a settlement between plaintiffs and defendants. The trial court found that Fair’s printed name at the end of his e-mail where he had agreed to settlement terms set forth in an e-mail from plaintiffs’ counsel was an “electronic signature” within the meaning of California’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (Civ. Code, § 1633.1 et seq.) (UETA) and what the trial court referred to as the “common law of contract” or “contract case law.”

Subsequently, plaintiffs requested attorney fees pursuant to a provision in an arbitration agreement between the parties. The trial court found plaintiffs to be the prevailing parties but denied the request for attorney fees because the matter never proceeded to arbitration and plaintiffs had failed to show that any contract authorized fees in the present litigation. Plaintiffs…