Marina Pacifica Homeowners Ass'n v. S. Cal. Fin. Corp.

*195 SUMMARY

Both plaintiff and defendant appeal from a postjudgment order concluding neither of them was the prevailing party in litigation *801 over an assignment fee, and consequently neither of them was entitled to attorney fees under Civil Code section 1717 ( section 1717 ) or to costs under Code of Civil Procedure section 1032 ( section 1032 ). We affirm the trial court's order.

FACTS

This is the fifth appeal in litigation over the assignment fee that began in 2006. Three of the previous appeals are pertinent in one way or another to this appeal, and we will describe them as needed. 1 The history of the dispute is described in detail in Marina Pacifica Homeowners Assn. v. Southern California Financial Corp. (2014) 232 Cal.App.4th 494 , 497-504, 181 Cal.Rptr.3d 271 ( Marina Pacifica I ). We summarize here the background and other facts pertinent to the attorney fee and costs issues the parties present in this appeal, borrowing liberally from the recitations in our earlier opinions.

The plaintiff is Marina Pacifica Homeowners Association. When unit owners in the Marina Pacifica complex in Long Beach purchased their units, they bought an ownership interest in their…