The nice aspect of this published decision, with respect to 1021.5 jurisprudence, is that it held a claimant
seeking no monetary award could still be held to have an overriding financial interest and, separately, that even an «indirect» financial interest — in this case, competitive survival — certainly allowed trial judges to consider such an interest (gauging whether it was real or speculative in nature).
Tried and defeated claims of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and declaratory relief brought by plaintiffs who
sought to both obtain control of the clients» intellectual property rights and secure a large
monetary award.