Pvca, Inc. and Renola Equity Fund II, LLC v. Pacific West Td Fund, Lp, Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Company Fair Plan, and Maf, Inc. D/B/A Worldclaim Global Claims Management, 366 So.3d 243

Background

PVCA, Inc. and Renola Equity Fund II (Plaintiffs) sued Louisiana Citizens (insurer) and Pacific West (intervenor) over an insurance claim; jury found insurer acted in bad faith and awarded damages.
Parties stipulated (Nov. 13, 2019) to reserve all attorney’s fees/costs issues for a post-trial contradictory hearing before the judge.
At the post-trial hearing Plaintiffs sought $878,176.08 in attorney’s fees and $269,392.74 in costs; Pacific West sought $685,478.71 in fees and $39,076.18 in costs.
Louisiana Citizens moved an exception of res judicata against Pacific West’s fee claim; trial court awarded Plaintiffs fees ($878,176.08) and costs ($234,056.37), ordered interest from the judgment date, granted res judicata as to Pacific West, and denied Pacific West’s fee motion.
On appeal the court consolidated challenges: (1) Louisiana Citizens contests Plaintiffs’ fee/cost awards; (2) Plaintiffs seek interest from judicial demand and appellate fees; (3) Pacific West contests the res judicata ruling and denial of its fees.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Reasonableness of Plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees	One‑third contingency (per fee agreement) is reasonable given results, complexity, time and Williamson factors	Award is excessive; trial court improperly relied on contingency agreement and failed to weigh reasonableness factors	Affirmed — trial court did not abuse discretion; award reasonable and consistent with factors and contingency agreement
Expert fees and reports (amounts claimed)	Expert preparation, reports and trial testimony were necessary and compensable	Fees are excessive; cannot double recover for report preparation and testimony; testimony time didn’t justify amounts	Affirmed — trial court did not abuse discretion; expert reports and testimony/prep fees are recoverable and award reasonable
Accrual date for interest on fees and costs	Plaintiffs: interest should run from date of judicial demand	(Respondent implicit) interest should run from judgment	Held for Louisiana law: interest on attorney’s fees runs from date of judgment (Sharbono); trial court correct
Res judicata as to Pacific West’s claim for fees	Pacific West: fee entitlement was not litigated at the jury trial and was reserved by stipulation	Louisiana Citizens: jury did not award fees to Pacific West; final judgment bars re-litigation	Reversed — res judicata improperly granted; issue not actually litigated; remand to determine Pacific West’s entitlement and amount
Appellate attorney’s fees for Plaintiffs	Plaintiffs seek fees for work on this appeal	Louisiana Citizens opposes	Declined now — remand for hearing to determine appropriate appellate fee award if any

Key Cases Cited

State, Dep’t of Transp. & Dev. v. Williamson, 597 So.2d 439 (La. 1992) (sets essential factors for determining reasonable attorney’s fees)
Sharbono v. Steve Lang & Son Loggers, 696 So.2d 1382 (La. 1997) (interest on attorney’s fees begins to run from date of judgment)
Bd. of Supervisors of La. State Univ. v. Boudreaux’s Tire & Auto Repair, L.L.C., 133 So.3d 1262 (La. App. 4 Cir.) (courts may consider contingency fee agreements when awarding fees)
Bd. of Sup’rs of La. State Univ. v. 1732 Canal St., L.L.C., 133 So.3d 109 (La. App. 4 Cir.) (expert fees: preparation and testimony may be recoverable; reasonableness required)