Mike Murphy's Enterprises v. Fineline Industries CA5

background discussion from the first appeal as if fully set forth here. As noted in the first appeal, the trial court ultimately entered judgment in favor of Murphy on its breach of contract claim, awarding $62,936.01, but not before rejecting the majority of Murphy’s breach of contract theories and its other related causes of action. In resolving the first appeal, this court generally affirmed the trial court’s judgment and rulings, save for its calculation of prejudgment interest. In this appeal, Murphy raises several disputes with respect to postjudgment motions filed by both parties related to cost and fee awards. Following judgment, both parties filed motions to be deemed the prevailing party in the litigation and to tax the costs requested by the other party. Murphy argued it had prevailed based on the judgment entered and requested its costs. Fineline sought prevailing party status based on the $85,000 offer to compromise it had mailed to Murphy on July 18, 2016, near the start of the litigation, and the language of a 10-year license agreement between the parties (the contract), which provided that the prevailing party would be entitled to costs, including reasonable…