Sky Properties v. Valor CA2/5

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Sky Properties, Inc. (Sky Properties) purports to appeal from the trial court’s orders confirming a nonbinding arbitration award and entering judgment in favor of its prior law firm, defendant Valor LLP (Valor),1 and denying its motion to reconsider or vacate. Because we conclude that Sky Properties’ appeal from the court’s order confirming the nonbinding arbitration award and entering judgment is untimely and it has waived its appeal of the court’s denial of its postjudgment motion to vacate, we dismiss its appeal, in part, and affirm, in part.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Nonbinding Arbitration Award and Sky Properties’ Rejection of Award

On April 27, 2016, Valor executed a retainer contract in which it agreed to represent Sky Properties in an unlawful detainer action and to arbitrate any disputes between the parties. The action settled in May 2016, but Sky Properties refused to pay the amount billed by Valor,2 triggering a fee dispute. The parties engaged in a fee-arbitration pursuant to the Mandatory Fee Arbitration Act (Bus. & Prof. Code § 6200 et seq.) which resulted

Codefendant Ramin Kermani-Nejad, the managing partner of Valor, is not a…