Goldenwest Plaza v. The Frank and Gertrude R. Doyle Foundation CA4/3

INTRODUCTION

Defendant The Frank M. and Gertrude R. Doyle Foundation, Inc. 1 (Defendant Foundation), and defendant Goldenwest/Edinger, LP (Defendant G/E), appeal from an order denying their motion for attorney fees and costs. The motion arose in a somewhat unusual situation. Plaintiff Goldenwest Plaza, LLC (Plaintiff), brought a statutory partition action against Defendants, and Defendants cross-complained against Plaintiff to enjoin any partition by sale and alternatively to seek partition in kind. Although the litigation settled on the first day of trial, the settlement agreement expressly reserved the right of any party to seek attorney fees. Defendants moved to recover attorney fees on two bases: (1) Civil Code section 1717 (attorney fees incurred in an action on a contract), and (2) Code of Civil Procedure sections 874.010 and 874.040 (attorney fees incurred in a partition action for the common benefit). The trial court denied the motion based on a finding that no party prevailed in the action. We conclude the trial court did not err by denying the motion. The parties reached a true compromise settlement agreement in which no party achieved its main litigation objectives,…