Trial Victory for Sweeney Mason LLP
Sweeney Mason Partners Chris Olson and Kurt Wilson won a resounding victory at trial in Santa Clara County Superior Court for a SM General Contractor client. The Project Developer refused to pay SM’s client $200,000 due and owing for work the Contractor performed building the project, and asserted multiple defenses and claimed that SM’s client had breached the construction contract. At the outset of the trial, the Judge warned the parties that, because of the prevailing party attorneys’ fees clause in the contract, one of them was going to be very disappointed in his ultimate decision. The 7-day trial concluded on April 21, 2021, and after post-trial briefing, on July 9, 2021, the Judge issued his 33-page tentative decision awarding SM’s client $200,000 as the prevailing party and expressly rejecting all of the Project Developer’s defenses and claims. The matter subsequently settled in lieu of a post-trial attorneys’ fees motion, with the Project Developer paying SM’s client the $200,000 it had refused to pay plus another $415,000 for attorneys’ fees and costs, for a total of $615,000.
