What is the test for attorney's fees in a personal injury case?

Typically, attorney's fees cannot be awarded unless specifically provided for by statute or agreed to by the parties. (Code Civ. Proc., 1021.) However, there are equitable exceptions to this rule. (Serrano v. Priest (1977) 20 Cal.3d 25, 34-35.) One of the exceptions is known as the "common fund" doctrine. The doctrine is well established: "when a number of persons are entitled in common to a specific fund, and an action brought by a plaintiff or plaintiffs for the benefit of all results in the creation or preservation of that fund, such plaintiff or plaintiffs may be awarded attorney's fees out of the fund. [Citations.]" (Id. at p. 34.) One of the reasons for the common fund award of attorney's fees is fairness to the successful litigant who might otherwise receive no benefit from the common fund because her share of the common fund is consumed by the expense of attorney's fees. (In re Stauffer's Estate (1959) 53 Cal.2d 124, 132.) In other words, the common fund doctrine prevents the situation where 10 people have a common interest in a fund, one person successfully sues to protect that fund, but that successful litigant ends up with no money because all the money awarded

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