Roy Al Finance and Loan Company v Rastegar & Matern

Roy Al Finance and Loan Company v Rastegar & Matern

Plaintiffs and appellants Roy-Al Finance & Loan Company (Royal) and John Tonoyan (Tonoyan) (collectively, Royal) appeal an order granting in part an attorney fee motion brought by defendants and appellants Matthew J. Matern (Matern), Paul J. Weiner (Weiner), Julia Vaynerov (Vaynerov) and the law firm of Rastegar & Matern (R&M) (collectively, the attorney defendants), after the attorney defendants prevailed on a special motion to strike under the anti-SLAPP statute. ( Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16.) The attorney defendants cross-appeal from the attorney fee order, contending the attorney fee award was inadequate. The issue presented is whether, and to what extent, the attorney defendants are entitled to recover reasonable attorney fees related to their anti-SLAPP motion. To the extent the attorney defendants retained outside counsel to represent them in connection with the anti-SLAPP motion, they were entitled to recover reasonable attorney fees pursuant to section 425.16. However, to the extent the attorney defendants represented themselves in the matter, recovery of attorney fees is barred. The order is affirmed. [Mr. Horwitz represented the defendant / respondents]