In a decision which provides a nuance to existing case law, the California Court of
Appeal, Second Appellate District, ruled in the matter Pueblo Radiology Medical Group,
Inc. v. T.Dalton Gerlach DJDAR8190 ("Pueblo case") that individual defendants in a breach
of contract case against a corporate entity which successfully prevailed on an alter ego
claim in a bifurcated matter could recover attorneys' fees even though no determination
had ever been made in regard to any breach of contract in the first instance.
In the Pueblo case, Pueblo Radiology Medical Group, Inc. ("Pueblo") had entered
into a~contractwith Vitascan, Inc. ("Vitascan")to provide interpretation services of imaging
scans from a Vitascan mobile imatron electron beam tomography scanner. The contract
contained an attorney's fee clause. J. Dalton Gerlach ("Gerlach") signed the contract on
behalf of Vitascan. Gerlach was Vitascan's President. Daniel Parker ("Parker") was
Vitascan's secretary. Gerlach and Parker were the sole shareholders of Vitascan. Neither
appeared to have executed a guarantee.
The subject contract was entered into for the time period covering June I, 2001 to
December 30, 2003. During the contractual time period, Vitascan advised Pueblo that its
services were no longer neede4. In June 2002, Pueblo filed a complaint for damages for
.breach of contract, common counts and an accounting naming Vitascan, Gerlach and
Parker as defendants. The complaint alleged that Gerlach and Parker were alter egos of
Vitascan.
Vitascan ceased operations in September 2003 and filed for bankruptcy in March
2004. In July 2004, Gerlach and Parker filed a motion to bifurcate the breach of contract
claim from the alter ego claim. The trial court granted the motion and tried the alter ego
issue first. In March 2006, following a IS-day bench trial, the court issued a statement of
decision finding in favor of Gerlach and Parker on the alter ego issue, only, and later
awarded $250,000 in attorneys' fees to Gerlach and Parker under Civil Code section 1717.
On appeal, Pueblo did not challenge the trial court's finding on the alter ego issue,
but argued that the trial court's award of attorneys' fees was premature because the breach