Title: Rabb Ex Rel. Cobb v. Estate of Harris

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

953 So. 2d 401 (2006)
Jamarkus RABB, a minor, by and through his guardian ad litem, J. Glenn COBB
v.
ESTATE OF Fred Lee HARRIS, deceased; et al.
1041650.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
September 22, 2006.
*402 J. Glenn Cobb, Jr., Mobile, for appellant.
Submitted on appellant's brief only.
NABERS, Chief Justice.
The lone issue remaining in this probate matter, which began in May 1998, is the amount of the attorney fee that should be awarded to J. Glenn Cobb, guardian ad litem for Jamarkus Rabb, the minor son of Fred Lee Harris, deceased. The probate court (hereinafter referred to as "the trial court") awarded Cobb attorney fees totaling $4,000 for his work representing Rabb. On appeal, Cobb argues that this amount inadequately compensates him for the work he has done representing Rabb from July 1998, when he was appointed guardian ad litem, until the present. We affirm.
This case began with the death of Fred Lee Harris on May 8, 1998. Harris died intestate and was survived by a wife and 13 children, including Jamarkus Rabb, the only minor among the heirs. On July 30, 1998, J. Glenn Cobb was appointed guardian ad litem for Rabb.
Among the assets held by Harris at his death was a bank account at Gulf Federal Bank containing approximately $34,500 ("the bank account"). The bank account was in both Harris's and Rabb's names. On August 19, 2003, the trial court ruled *403 that Rabb was entitled to one-half of the funds in the bank account and that the estate was entitled to the other half. Arguing that he was entitled to the entire sum, Rabb appealed the trial court's decision to this Court.
On November 15, 2004, this Court remanded the cause to the trial court because no final settlement order had been entered. The trial court took no action on remand, and on December 20, 2004, this Court dismissed Rabb's appeal as being from a nonfinal judgment. Rabb v. Estate of Harris, (No. 1030308).
On March 2, 2005, the trial court entered an order approving final settlement of Harris's estate. The order again awarded Rabb one-half of the funds in the bank account. The order also awarded Cobb $3,000 for his work as guardian ad litem for Rabb. On March 25, 2005, Rabb filed a postjudgment motion arguing 1) that he was entitled to all of the funds in the bank account and 2) that Cobb was entitled to a larger attorney fee.
The trial court subsequently solicited briefs from the parties on the issue of account ownership. On June 28, 2005, the trial court entered an order purporting to reverse its previous decision and award Rabb the entire contents of the bank account. The order also provided that Cobb had until July 12, 2005, to submit evidence supporting his request for additional compensation and reimbursement of expenses and scheduled a hearing for July 15, 2005, to further consider his request. However, this order was void for lack of jurisdiction because, pursuant to Rule 59.1, Ala. R. Civ. P., Rabb's postjudgment motion had already been denied by operation of law on June 23, 2005.[1]
On July 25, 2005, Rabb appealed to this Court, repeating the arguments he had made in his postjudgment motion. On October 7, 2005, he filed a motion to remand the case to the trial court. This Court initially denied the motion to remand; however, on December 15, 2005, in response to a motion to reconsider filed jointly by Rabb and Harris's estate, we remanded the case to the trial court for 60 days. On December 21, 2005, the trial court notified the parties that they had until January 4, 2006, to file additional pleadings. Otherwise, the trial court stated, it would enter an order substantially identical to the June 28, 2005, order that had been untimely.
Rabb was the only party to file an additional pleading in response to the trial court's order. That pleading was devoted almost exclusively to the issue of Cobb's attorney fee. On February 7, 2006, the trial court entered its final order. The order awarded Rabb all of the funds in the bank account. In regard to the issue of the attorney fee, the trial court stated, in pertinent part:
Following the entry of the trial court's order, the case was returned to this Court, for a review of the attorney-fee award. The parties declined to file any additional briefs; we now consider the matter.
City of Birmingham v. Horn, 810 So. 2d 667, 681-82 (Ala.2001). Moreover, an applicant for an attorney fee bears the burden of proving entitlement to the fee. Ex parte Edwards, 601 So. 2d 82, 85 (Ala. 1992). Thus, we review the trial court's decision awarding Cobb a total of $4,000 as an attorney fee to determine if in setting the amount of that award the trial court exceeded its discretion.
Cobb states that he worked 471.65 hours on this case, that his hourly rate is $150, and that he had additional expenses of $339.07. Accordingly, he argues that the trial court's decision awarding him only $3,000 for his work on this case through January 25, 2005, grossly undercompensates him for the work he has done for Rabb since he was appointed guardian ad litem in July 1998.[3] As evidenced by its February 7, 2006, order, the trial court concluded that Cobb had failed to substantiate his request for an attorney fee. Therefore, it performed its own calculation, guided by the factors this Court enumerated in Van Schaack v. AmSouth Bank, N.A., 530 So. 2d 740 (Ala.1988), and arrived at the figure of $3,000 for work performed through January 25, 2005, and the $1,000 figure awarded on remand for work performed after that date.
At the trial court level, Cobb supported his request for an attorney fee with two forms, which appear to be local to the Mobile Probate Court. Each form is entitled "Expense Voucher for Guardian Ad Litem, Administrator Ad Litem, or Court Representative" ("expense voucher"). The first expense voucher, which bears a stamp indicating that it was filed January 24, 2002, covers the years 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. It is signed by Cobb and states, in pertinent part:
The second expense voucher is substantially identical to the first; however, it covers the period from January 1, 2002, through February 11, 2005. It is also signed by Cobb and is stamped as filed in the trial court on February 11, 2005. It states, in pertinent part:
The expense vouchers appear to be the only materials submitted by Cobb in support of his attorney-fee request. Cobb argues that it is the custom in the Mobile *407 Probate Court that these completed expense vouchers are all that is required of guardian ad litems to receive an attorney fee. He further claims that that has been the practice since at least the 1950s. Based on this understanding of the process and notwithstanding the trial court's repeated requests, Cobb refused to itemize the time claimed or to provide further documentation or evidence. Rather, in the final document Cobb submitted to the trial court, made after this Court remanded the case in December 2005, he instead stated:
An applicant for an attorney fee bears the ultimate burden of proving that he or she is entitled to that award. Edwards, 601 So. 2d  at 85. In this case, Cobb failed to meet that burden. In Horn, we explained the rationale for requiring an attorney to prove that he or she is entitled to an attorney fee:
810 So. 2d  at 682.
In this case, the expense vouchers Cobb submitted to the trial court indicate that he kept some track of the time he expended on the case. However, if he "maintain[ed] billing time records in a matter that [would] enable a reviewing court to identify distinct claims," 810 So. 2d  at 682, he inexplicably refused to share those records with the trial court. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 437, 103 S. Ct. 1933, 76 L. Ed. 2d 40 (1983). Accordingly, he has not met his burden of showing that he is entitled to the claimed attorney fee and we cannot say that the trial court exceeded its discretion by awarding him a lower amount.
Cobb argues that the attorney fee he was awarded by the trial court for his service as guardian ad litem for Rabb was excessively low. However, because Cobb refused to substantiate his request for an attorney fee with any evidence or documentation, such as itemized billing records, the trial court did not exceed its discretion in relying on its own expertise and judgment to award Cobb a lesser amount. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
SEE, HARWOOD, STUART, and BOLIN, JJ., concur.
[1]  Rule 59.1, Ala. R. Civ. P., provides that a trial court's failure to dispose of a postjudgment motion within 90 days of filing "shall constitute a denial of such motion as of the date of the expiration of the [90-day] period." Rabb's motion was filed March 25, 2005; accordingly, it was denied by operation of law on June 23, 2005, five days before the trial court entered its order purporting to rule on the motion.
[2]  Elsewhere in the order, the trial court states that it had advised Cobb before he filed the first appeal on Rabb's behalf that the court's ruling regarding ownership of the bank account was not final and that Cobb should wait until a final order was issued before filing an appeal.
[3]  Cobb made his argument before the trial court awarded him an additional $1,000 on remand for services he performed after January 25, 2005.