Rhule v. WaveFront Technology

Plaintiff filed suit against his former employer, WaveFront, for wrongful termination. On appeal, plaintiff challenged the trial court's award of $8,125.00 in attorney fees to WaveFront. The court rejected plaintiff's contention that the trial court's attorney fees award was made without statutory authority and was an abuse of discretion. In this case, the record on appeal did not include any reporter's transcript of either the hearing on plaintiff's motion to withdraw his mistaken admissions or the subsequent hearing at which the trial court ruled on defendant's motion for attorney fees. The court explained that, as the party asserting error, it was plaintiff's burden to supply an adequate record. Other than the portion of the trial court's order that states Code of Civil Procedure section 2033.300, subdivision (c) was the statutory basis of its attorney fees award, the court had no reliable means of assessing the trial court's rationale for awarding fees. Because the court concluded that section 2033.300 does permit, as a general matter, a court to condition relief on the payment of reasonable attorney fees, the remainder of plaintiff's contentions must therefore fail. Accordingly, the court affirmed the attorney fees order. View "Rhule v. WaveFront Technology" on Justia Law