Oakley Municipal Code Art. 3 Recovery of Attorneys’ Fees in Nuisance Abatement Actions

In any action, administrative proceeding, or special proceeding initiated by the City to abate a nuisance, the prevailing party may recover attorneys’ fees. Recovery of attorneys’ fees by the prevailing party is limited to those individual actions or proceedings in which the City elects, at the initiation of that individual action or proceeding, to seek recovery of its own attorneys’ fees. The award of attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party shall in no circumstances exceed the amount of reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred by the City in the action or proceeding.

Upon entry of a second or subsequent civil or criminal judgment within a two-year period finding that a property owner is responsible for a condition which may be abated as a nuisance, the court may order the property owner to pay treble (three times) the cost of abatement. This section shall not apply to conditions abated pursuant to section 17980 of the California Health and Safety Code.