“Commercial Leases, Arbitration, and Attorney Fee Awards”

Kevin Brodehl and Zachary Young of Patton Sullivan Brodehl have this article, available in JD Supra, discussing the California Court of Appeal’s decision in California Union Square L.P. v. Saks & Company LLC, where the court was called upon to construe a lease agreement’s interplay between an arbitration provision calling for the parties to assume their respective attorneys’ fees in the arbitration and a general lease provision entitling the prevailing party in an “action or proceeding to enforce this Lease or any provision hereof” to recover its attorneys’ fees. The victorious party in the arbitration claimed it was entitled to recover the legal fees it incurred in the litigation proceedings to vacate an initial arbitration award and confirm the second arbitration award. The court disagreed. Both the article and the court’s opinion provide valuable insight to those drafting commercial agreements to ensure harmonization of attorneys’ fees provisions.