Former Santa Barbara News-Press editor Jerry Roberts appears to have won another round in his long protracted legal battle with Wendy McCaw, the paper's owner.
Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge James Brown has indicated he will order McCaw's wholly owned Ampersand Communications, the parent company of the News-Press, to pay Roberts $28,534.95 in attorney's fees Roberts incurred in opposing Ampersand's appeal of an earlier ruling Brown made requiring Ampersand to complete the arbitration proceedings it had initiated against Roberts. Roberts prevailed against Ampersand by having the appeal dismissed.
In opposing Robert's application for attorney's fees, Ampersand sought to diminish the amount of time Robert's attorneys had expended in opposing their appeal. At one point. describing the arguments of Ampersand's counsel (Barry Cappello and his partners) as "disingenuous," the court noted, "A party cannot litigate tenaciously and then be heard to complain about the time necessarily spent by the [other party] in response."
Amen to that.
Ampersand's motion will formally be heard tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 9:30 am in Department Four of the Santa Barbara Superior Court. Judge Brown's tentative ruling awarding Roberts his attorney's fees is unlikely to change.
Update, 1 pm Jan. 27. At the hearing this morning Judge Brown stuck to his tentative ruling. Wendy McCaw must pay Jerry Roberts $28,000 in attorney's fees
© 2010 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
