Does a court have jurisdiction to award costs and attorney fees in a personal injury action where the substantive demand is within the jurisdiction of a municipal court?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Stokus v. Marsh, 217 Cal.App.3d 647, 266 Cal.Rptr. 90 (Cal. App. 1990):

Pointing out that the "substantive demand is the touchstone of jurisdiction," the court held in Bakkebo that where the recovery on the substantive demand is within the jurisdiction of the municipal court, "that court retains jurisdiction to award costs and attorney fees even though those items, when added to the substantive portion of the judgment, aggregate an amount in excess of the jurisdictional limit." (Id., at p. 235, 177 Cal.Rptr. 239; accord Babcock v. Antis, supra, 94 Cal.App.3d 823, 156 Cal.Rptr. 673.)

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