Yellow Dog Holdings v. Regions Bank CA4/3

── Yellow Dog Holdings v. Regions Bank CA4/3 ── Court: California Court of Appeal Date: May 12, 2026 Category: General Filed 5/12/26 Yellow Dog Holdings v. Regions Bank CA4/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115. IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION THREE YELLOW DOG HOLDINGS, LLC, Cross-complainant and G064613 Appellant, (Super. Ct. No. 30-2019- v. 01073663) REGIONS BANK et al., OPINION Cross-defendants and Respondents. Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Robert S. Nelson, Judge. Affirmed. Carlsen Law Corporation and Miles Carlsen for Cross- complainant and Appellant. Frandzel Robins Bloom & Csato, Andrew K. Alper and Hal D. Goldflam for Cross-defendants and Respondents. * * *  Appellant Yellow Dog Holdings, LLC (Yellow Dog) appeals from a judgment awarding contractual attorney fees to respondent Ascentium 1 Capital, LLC (Ascentium). Yellow Dog raises three arguments on appeal. First, Yellow Dog contends Ascentium’s notice of motion for attorney fees was inadequate. Second, Yellow Dog argues Ascentium’s rights under the relevant lease, which included an attorney fees provision, terminated. Finally, Yellow Dog claims Ascentium cannot recover attorney fees because another party “effectuated a retraxit.” For the reasons post, we disagree with Yellow Dog’s contentions and affirm the judgment. FACTS I. THE LEASE AGREEMENT AND ASSIGNMENT In 2014, Yellow Dog entered into an equipment lease agreement with Alliance Funding Group (Alliance), a non-party to this appeal, whereby Yellow Dog leased a paint booth. Douglas Pientock and William Sonichsen were guarantors on the lease. As relevant here, the lease included the following attorney fees provision: “You agree to reimburse us for all charges, costs, expenses and attorney’s fees that we have to pay to enforce this Lease or collect the Obligations under this Lease and in any lawsuit or other legal proceeding which we are required to bring or defend because of your default. You also agree that in the event of a dispute related to or arising out of this Lease, the 1 Respondent Regions Bank is the successor to Ascentium. For clarity and consistency with the appellate briefing, we refer to the entity throughout this opinion as “Ascentium.” 2 Lessor in such dispute shall be entitled to recover its reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.” Early in the lease term, Alliance assigned its rights under the lease to Ascentium. Among other things, the assignment stated: “Until such time as [Ascentium] has received all of the Payments in full together with all payments specified and . . . constituting the Assigned Interest in the event of the late payment or non-payment of Payments, [Ascentium] shall have and enjoy . . . the rights of [Alliance] under the [Assigned Contract] . . . .” The assignment further specified: “Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, [Ascentium] shall have the right to . . . take all legal or other proceedings which [Alliance] could have taken with respect to the Assign