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There’s No Appeal From Orders After Judgment Where No Judgment Was Entered, C.A. Holds
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal declared on Friday that where parties settle a case with the setting of attorney fees and costs left up to the judge, there can be no appeal from the judge’s award where a judgment has not been entered.
Kimberly M. Steffenhagen, the plaintiff in a lemon-law case, purported to appeal from an order granting her fees that was conditioned on her providing a W-9 form to the defendants, Hyundai Motor America and Russell Westbrook Hyundai of Anaheim. She insisted the condition was unlawful.
Steffenhagen took the position that she could appeal pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure § 904.1(a)(2): “an order made after a judgment.” But for there to be an order after a judgment, Orange Superior Court Judge Linda Marks, sitting on assignment, said, there has to be a judgment.
“We conclude the challenged orders are not appealable because Steffenhagen has not identified any appealable final judgment,” she said in an unpublished opinion.
She specified:
“[T]he January 29, 2020 minute order here awarding $4,205 fees and costs to Steffenhagen’s counsel is not a final judgment.”
In a footnote, Marks said:
“Hyundai asserts the appeal must be dismissed as moot because, as Steffenhagen acknowledges, the trial court subsequently released the funds held in the court’s trust account to Steffenhagen’s counsel without requiring submission of the W-9 information. We need not address mootness because we have concluded the challenged orders are not appealable.”
The case is Steffenhagen v. Hyundai Motor America, G059703.
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