Law Offices of Marc Grossman v. Victor Elementary School CA4/2

Law Offices of Marc Grossman (plaintiff or Law Firm) represented a student of defendant Victor Elementary School in a civil action arising from an assault that took place at the school. Plaintiff, in the name of the Law Firm, filed a petition for writ of mandate in the trial court under the California Public Records Act (Gov. Code, § 6258) seeking documentation reflecting the amount of money spent defending the litigation. That petition was denied, so relief was sought in this court, which granted the petition. Upon issuance of the remittitur, plaintiff filed a memorandum of costs seeking, among other costs, attorney fees for the petition. The trial court granted defendant’s motion to tax costs, denying attorney fees. Plaintiff appealed from the denial of attorney fees.

On appeal, plaintiff argues the trial court erred in denying fees on the ground plaintiff represented itself in the trial court. We reverse.

BACKGROUND

Due to the limited record, we take judicial notice of the records in the previous writ proceedings in Law Offices of Marc E. Grossman v. Victor Elementary School (Oct. 10, 2012, E056931) (nonpub. opn.). In that proceeding, plaintiff Law Firm filed a…