Frog Creek Partners, LLC v. Vance Brown, Inc.

*520Opinion

SIMONS, Acting P. J .

Two parties enter into a contract with an arbitration clause and a separate attorney fee provision. A dispute arises, a lawsuit is filed, and the defendant petitions to compel arbitration. Under Civil Code section 1717, if the plaintiff defeats that petition, is it entitled to recover attorney fees, even if the plaintiff ultimately loses the substantive contractual dispute? This court considered an analogous question in Green v. Mt. Diablo Hospital Dist. (1989) 207 Cal.App.3d 63 [254 Cal.Rptr. 689] (Green). There, albeit with relatively little discussion, we held…