( January 29, 2025, 9:33 AM EST) -- SAN FRANCISCO — A federal magistrate judge in California used the appropriate methodology to determine the prevailing party in a long-running breach of contract suit but erred in deeming certain claims that were not litigated at trial voluntarily abandoned, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in partly affirming and partly reversing and remanding an order awarding more than $4.35 million in attorney fees to a distributor of furniture protection products....