Does the fact that a judge who ruled on a motion for fees was not the judge who presided over the merits litigation have any impact on the standard of review?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Caretakers v. City of Santa Cruz, H040762 (Cal. App. 2015):

4. The judge who ruled on the fees motion was not the judge who presided over the merits litigation. There is some authority indicating that this circumstance impacts our standard of review. "[W]hen, as here, the fee order under review was rendered by a judge other than the trial judge, we may exercise ' "somewhat more latitude in determining whether there has been an abuse of discretion than would be true in the usual case." ' [Citation.]" (Center For Biological Diversity v. County of San Bernardino (2010) 188 Cal.App.4th 603, 616.) We find no need to decide in this case whether a modified abuse of discretion standard of review is appropriate since we would reach the same conclusions regardless.

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