El Escorial Owners Assn v. DLC Plastering

In El Escorial Owners Assn. v. DLC Plastering (2007) 154 Cal.App.4th 1337, a construction defect case, the appellants argued that the trial court had erred in reducing their attorney fees by apportioning their time spent between the contract and the tort claims. The Court of Appeal upheld the apportionment and fee reduction, noting that matters such as inadequate documentation or excessive hourly rates could also be taken into consideration in the exercise of discretion. (El Escorial, at p. 1366.)