Dr. V. Productions, Inc., v. Rey
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The underlying litigation stems from a former employment relationship between appellant and respondent. In this action, after significant discovery, respondent voluntarily dismissed its misappropriation of trade secrets cause of action. Appellant then moved for an award of attorney fees under Civil Code section 3426.4, which the trial court denied. Appellant appealed and respondent moved to dismiss the appeal.
The Court of Appeal dismissed appellant's appeal from the order denying appellant's motion for attorney's fees under section 3426.4. The court concluded that appellant has not articulated any policy reason why the collateral order rule under Sjoberg v. Hastorf (1948) 33 Cal.2d 116, 119, and other cases should be extended to permit an interlocutory appeal of an order denying an award of attorney fees during the time the bulk of the litigation is ongoing in the trial court. Furthermore, plaintiff's second theory of liability under Meehan v. Hopps (1955) 45 Cal.2d 213, 215-217, and Muller v. Fresno Community Hospital & Medical Center (2009) 172 Cal.App.4th 887, fails because the order before the court is not "truly collateral" under Muller and an order disqualifying counsel as in Meehan is distinguishable here. The court explained that, at its core, this is a lawsuit about the claimed destruction and conversion of corporate documents, a claim common to the trade secret cause of action and all the others. Therefore, whether some or all of the documents were truly trade secrets is likely not dispositive of the remaining claims, and thus the order denying attorney fees cannot be said to be collateral. Finally, the court declined to treat the notice of appeal as a petition for writ of mandamus and denied respondent's request for sanctions.
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