# Cal. Civ. Code § 1717 — Reciprocal Attorney's Fees on Contracts

- Citation: Cal. Civ. Code, § 1717
- Code: Civil Code, Division 3, Part 2, Title 3
- Subject: Reciprocal attorney's-fee provisions in contract litigation
- Source: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayexpandedbranch.xhtml?tocCode=CIV&division=3.&title=3.&part=2.&chapter=&article=
- Last verified: 2026-05-13

> Authored from canonical California statutory sources; verify
> against leginfo.legislature.ca.gov before relying.

## Overview

Section 1717 is one of the most important attorney's-fee
statutes in California civil practice. It makes one-sided
contractual attorney's-fee clauses **reciprocal** — turning a
"plaintiff/creditor may recover fees" clause into a "prevailing
party (either side) may recover fees" mechanism.

This is the foundation for fee recovery by consumer defendants
in credit-card and other contract cases where the underlying
contract contains an attorney's-fee clause favoring the
creditor.

## § 1717 — Reciprocal attorney's fees

### (a) — Mutuality

**(a) In any action on a contract, where the contract
specifically provides that attorney's fees and costs, which are
incurred to enforce that contract, shall be awarded either to
one of the parties or to the prevailing party, then the party
who is determined to be the party prevailing on the contract,
whether he or she is the party specified in the contract or
not, shall be entitled to reasonable attorney's fees in
addition to other costs.**

Reasonable attorney's fees shall be fixed by the court, and
shall be an element of the costs of suit.

### (b) — Definition of "prevailing party"

**(b)(1)** The court, upon notice and motion by a party, shall
determine who is the party prevailing on the contract for
purposes of this section, whether or not the suit proceeds to
final judgment. Except as provided in paragraph (2), the party
prevailing on the contract shall be the party who recovered a
greater relief in the action on the contract. The court may
also determine that there is no party prevailing on the
contract for purposes of this section.

**(b)(2)** Where an action has been voluntarily dismissed or
dismissed pursuant to a settlement of the case, there shall be
no prevailing party for purposes of this section.

### (c) — Effect of attorney's-fee clauses

Provisions in a contract that purport to award attorney's fees
only to one party are made reciprocal by § 1717.

## Practical application

### Standard credit-card / consumer-debt scenario

A typical credit-card cardholder agreement contains a one-sided
fee clause:

> "If you default on this Agreement, you agree to pay our
> reasonable attorney's fees and collection costs incurred in
> collecting on your account."

Under § 1717, this clause is automatically reciprocal:
**if the consumer defendant prevails in a collection action,
the consumer is entitled to attorney's fees from the
collector.**

### Pro per limitation — *Trope v. Katz* (1995)

The leading case is *Trope v. Katz* (1995) 11 Cal.4th 274.
**Pro per litigants cannot recover attorney's fees under
§ 1717 for time they spent representing themselves.** The
reasoning: "attorney's fees" means fees paid to or chargeable
by an attorney; a pro per litigant who is not an attorney has
no attorney's fees.

There are limited exceptions:
- A pro per ATTORNEY representing themselves may recover under
  some authorities, though the rule is restrictive.
- A pro per may still recover **costs** under CCP § 1032 / §
  1033.5 (filing fees, service costs, etc.).

### Determining the prevailing party

The court has discretion to determine who prevailed under
§ 1717(b)(1). Outcomes typically considered:

- **Plaintiff recovers full claim** → plaintiff prevails
- **Plaintiff recovers reduced amount** → plaintiff usually
  prevails, but court may find no prevailing party
- **Plaintiff loses entirely** → defendant prevails
- **Action dismissed with no settlement** → defendant prevails
- **Action voluntarily dismissed / settled** → NO prevailing
  party (§ 1717(b)(2))

### CCP § 998 interaction

A CCP § 998 offer-to-compromise can shift fee-recovery rights.
A party who rejects a § 998 offer and fails to obtain a more
favorable result may forfeit the right to costs/fees after the
offer date, or be liable for the offeror's costs/fees.

## Fee award procedure

### Procedurally — file a motion

After judgment, the prevailing party files a noticed motion for
attorney's fees per CRC 3.1702:

1. **Notice of Motion for Attorney's Fees**
2. **Memorandum of P&A** — applying *PLCM Group v. Drexler*
   (2000) 22 Cal.4th 1084 lodestar analysis
3. **Declaration of counsel** — hours, hourly rate, work
   performed, expertise
4. **Billing records** — detailed time entries
5. **Proposed Order**

### Lodestar approach

California uses the lodestar method:

1. **Lodestar = reasonable hours × reasonable hourly rate**
2. Adjustments for: (a) novelty/difficulty, (b) skill required,
   (c) preclusion of other employment, (d) results obtained,
   (e) contingent vs. fixed fee
3. Multiplier (positive or negative) applied to the lodestar

### Timing

Per CRC 3.1702, motion for attorney's fees must be filed and
served within the time for filing notice of appeal under CRC
8.104 (60 days from notice of entry of judgment, or 180 days
from entry).

## Related fee-recovery authorities

| Statute | Type | One-way / Two-way |
|---|---|---|
| Cal. Civ. Code § 1717 | Contract reciprocal | Two-way (between parties to fee clause) |
| Cal. Civ. Code § 1788.30(c) (Rosenthal) | Consumer protection | One-way to consumer |
| 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a)(3) (FDCPA) | Consumer protection | One-way to consumer |
| Cal. Civ. Code § 1788.62(c) (FDBPA) | Consumer protection | Two-way (technically) |
| CCP § 1021.5 | Private attorney general | Either side if PAG criteria met |
| CCP § 998 | Settlement offer mechanism | Based on offer vs. result |
| Cal. Civ. Code § 1780(c) (CLRA) | Consumer protection | One-way to plaintiff; defendant only if bad faith |
| Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 (UCL) | Unfair competition | Generally NONE (unless § 1021.5) |

## Cross-references

- `BPC-UCL.md` — UCL (no fees absent § 1021.5)
- `CivCode-Rosenthal.md` — Rosenthal one-way fees
- `CivCode-CLRA.md` — CLRA one-way fees
- `CivCode-FDBPA.md` — FDBPA two-way fees
- `../federal-debt-laws/FDCPA.md` — federal FDCPA fees
- `../../../ca-consumer-debt/references/fees-consumer-debt.md`
  — practitioner-facing fee-recovery framework