In what circumstances will a court award attorney fees to a plaintiff in a personal injury action where the award was significantly reduced from the original request?

"The award granted was significantly reduced from the original request as a result of the trial court's indication that it did not look favorably on the full request. Thus, it clearly appears that the trial court exercised its discretion. In these circumstances, we cannot conclude that the award of attorney fees shocks the conscience or suggests that passion and prejudice had a part in it. As such, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding the attorney fees that it did." (Akins v. Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co., supra, 79 Cal.App.4th at p. 1134.)