deSaulles v. Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula

Opinion

LIU, J.

Code of Civil Procedure section 1032, subdivision (a)(4) defines the “prevailing party” in litigation to include “the party with a net monetary recovery” and “a defendant in whose favor a dismissal is entered.” (All undesignated statutory references are to this code.) A “prevailing party,” so defined, “is entitled as a matter of right to recover costs in any action or proceeding.” (§ 1032, subd. (b).) The question in this case is whether a plaintiff who voluntarily dismisses an action after entering into a monetary settlement is a prevailing party under section 1032, subdivision…