When will a court grant an award of attorney fees on appeal?

^11. The trial court also alluded to the fact that plaintiffs' recovery was below the amount that could have been recovered in a limited civil case. Where a plaintiff obtains a judgment for money damages in an amount that could have been recovered in a limited civil case, but the plaintiff did not bring the action as a limited civil case, Code of Civil Procedure section 1033, subdivision (a) grants the trial court discretion to deny the plaintiff's recovery of litigation costs, even if the plaintiff would otherwise have been entitled to recover those costs as a matter of right. (Chavez v. City of Los Angeles (2010) 47 Cal.4th 970, 983.) Thus, even if defendants had not recovered declaratory relief, and plaintiffs' net monetary recovery had entitled them to recover their costs as a matter of right, the trial court would still have had discretion to deny them recovery of litigation costsand hence attorney feesbecause the judgment recovered was below the jurisdictional minimum. (See ibid.)

^12. Defendants make a cursory argument that they are entitled to attorney fees on appeal if this court affirms the judgment. Defendants appear to reason that they are entitled to their fees on appeal because they were entitled to a fee award in the court below. If that is their reasoning, it fails because we hold the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendants their attorney fees. In any event, the two brief paragraphs defendants offer in support of this contention do not sufficiently explain why defendants should receive an award of fees and costs on appeal. (See City of Santa Maria v. Adam (2012) 211 Cal.App.4th 266, 287 ["we may disregard conclusory arguments that are not supported by pertinent legal authority or fail to disclose the reasoning by which the appellant reached the conclusions he wants us to adopt"].)