Reasonable attorney’s fees and costs shall be awarded to the prevailing party in any action on a contract or installment account subject to the provisions of this chapter regardless of whether such action is instituted by the seller, holder or buyer. Where the defendant alleges in his answer that he tendered to the plaintiff the full amount to which he was entitled, and thereupon deposits in court, for the plaintiff, the amount so tendered, and the allegation is found to be true, then the defendant is deemed to be a prevailing party within the meaning of this article.
Cal. Civ. Code § 1811.1
Attorney’s Fees and Court Costs
Known as the Unruh Act
The act spans §§ 1801–1812 (87 sections).
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case 19 Cal. 3d 152 - Great Lakes Properties, Inc. v. City of El Segundo (1977)
Most recently applied in 102 Cal. App. 4th 977 - Lachapelle v. Toyota Motor Credit Corporation (October 2002)
Amended by Stats. 1961, Ch. 1214.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.