Legal Question in Construction Law in California

What are your grounds for appeal? An appeal is not a new trial. The Court of Appeal will review the record of the case in the trial court, but probably won't take new evidence and probably won't reevaluate trial evidence. I assume you represented yourself at trial. Your chances in the Court of Appeal would be even slimmer.

Further, if you lose on appeal, your obligation for the other party's legal fees and costs will be even higher. The law is pretty firm that, when a contract contains an attorney-fee clause, the loser must pay the winner's reasonable attorney fees. There are grounds upon which the loser can scale back the size of the award

I think the best advice I can give you is to seek out a competent lawyer who understands trial and post-trial motion procedure, and get an honest evaluation of whether and how to fight on, or cut your losses.

A final caution is to know and observe the time limits for filing a Notice of Appeal and for other post-trial actions a loser might take.

file an opposition to the the motion for attorney fees arguing that they should not be imposed. Also consider filing a motion for new trial/jnov and make sure that you file your appeal before the deadline to do so expires.

You may want to contact a lawyer to help you with these tasks.