HOLDINGS: [1]-Attorney fees were improperly awarded as damages for breaching a settlement agreement because the only proof came from plaintiff's testimony that he had received invoices from the attorneys. That testimony was inadmissible under the secondary evidence rule, Evid. Code, §§ 1521, 1523, because the invoices, which plaintiff did not bring to trial, were not lost or destroyed; [2]-The testimony was also inadmissible hearsay; although the invoices could have been admissible as business records, plaintiff did not attempt to authenticate them as business records and admit them into evidence; [3]-Plaintiff provided no relevant information of the time spent, work performed, or the hourly rates of attorneys.
California Business Lawyer & Corporate Lawyer, Inc. informs on Fraud CACI
Reversed and remanded.
