Generally. if you are a party to a residential purchase agreement or lease in order to recover attorney fees under the agreement, a party cannot commence litigation before attempting to resolve the matter through mediation.

There is a strong public policy in favor of mediating mold litigation cases. In mediation, a neutral third party analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each party’s case, works through the economics of litigation with the parties, and otherwise assists in attempting to reach a compromise resolution of the dispute. The public policy of promoting mediation as a preferable alternative to judicial proceedings is served by requiring the party commencing litigation to seek mediation as a condition precedent to the recovery of attorney fees and the parties resorted to mediation, their dispute may have been resolved in a much less expensive and time-consuming manner.

If one party requests mediation prior to commencing litigation in a mold case and the other party refuses, the refuses party loses his/her right to recover their attorney fees at the conclusion of the case. By way of example, the Court in Lange v. Schilling (2008)
163 Cal.App.4th 1412 noted emphasized the devastating effect this could have on the refusing party. In Lange, the Plaintiff spent more the $113, 000.00 in order to recover a judgment of $13,000.00. When the Lange plaintiff requested his attorney fees the court noted that he did not request mediation prior to commencing the case. The economic inefficiency of this result may have been avoided if, prior to judicial proceedings, a mediator had explained to the parties the costs of litigating the dispute through to a judgment or a final resolution by an appellate court. The Court of Appeal denied Plaintiff’s request for attorneys fees.

If you are concerned about the conditions by which you can recover attorneys fees in a mold case contact The Law Office of Harold D. Thompson at (619) 615-0767 or adt@thompsonlawsd.com