Is there an abuse of the burden of showing in a trial court's failure to apportion attorney fees and costs between a declaratory relief claim and tort?

We conclude plaintiffs have failed to carry their burden of showing an abuse of discretion in the trial court's failure to apportion attorney fees and costs between the declaratory relief claim and the tort claims. The trial court reasonably could have determined that the issues involved in the declaratory relief claim were " 'inextricably intertwined' " with the issues raised by the tort claims, "making it 'impracticable, if not impossible, to separate the multitude of conjoined activities into compensable or noncompensable time units.' " (Abdallah v. United Savings Bank (1996) 43 Cal.App.4th 1101, 1111.) As discussed, the validity of the note was an issue in the case. In defeating plaintiffs' claim for declaratory relief, defendants were required to also defeat the tort claims alleging fraud and improper foreclosure. We note in this regard that plaintiffs themselves prayed for attorney fees pursuant to section 1717. The trial court did not abuse its broad discretion in determining the attorney fees could not be apportioned.

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