Huerta

*76 INTRODUCTION

Defendant Kava Holdings, Inc., dba Hotel Bel-Air (defendant) terminated two restaurant servers after they were involved in an altercation during work. One of the fired employees, plaintiff Felix Huerta, sued defendant on a variety of legal theories, most of which were dismissed before or during trial. The trial court granted defendant's motion for nonsuit as to plaintiff's claim for retaliation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA; Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq. ), and allowed the jury to decide plaintiff's FEHA causes of action for harassment based on a hostile work environment, discrimination, and failure to prevent harassment and/or discrimination. The jury returned a verdict in defendant's favor.

Postjudgment, the trial court found plaintiff's action was not frivolous and denied defendant's motion for attorney fees, expert fees and costs under Government Code section 12965, subdivision (b) ( section 12965(b) ). Based on plaintiff's rejection of defendant's pretrial Code of Civil Procedure section 998 1 settlement offer, however, the trial court awarded defendant $50,000 in costs and expert witness fees under that statute.

*74 In the unpublished…