Title: Matter of Awards of Attorney Fees

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

Matter of Awards of Attorney Fees1996 WY 103920 P.2d 1245Case Number: 95-190Decided: 07/24/1996Supreme Court of Wyoming
In 
the Matter of the AWARDS OF ATTORNEY FEES in:

Office of Hearing 
Examiner's Docket No. 19-91-553, Docket No. 19-91-84, Docket No. 19-86-380, 
Docket No. 19-92-651, Docket No. 19-91-681, Docket No. 19-86-761, Docket No. 
19-91-614, Docket No. 19-91-253, Docket No. 19-92-471. 

Appeal from the District 
Court of Uinta County; The Honorable John D. Troughton, 
Judge.

Gerald W. Laska, 
Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Jennifer A. Evans, Assistant Attorney 
General, Cheyenne, for Appellant.

Charles D. 
Phillips, Evanston, for Appellee.

Before 
THOMAS, MACY, TAYLOR and LEHMAN, JJ., and VOIGT, District 
Judge.

ORDER 
REMANDING CASE TO OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

PER 
CURIAM.

[¶1]      This case came on 
before the Court upon the Brief of Appellant, filed herein on behalf of the 
Wyoming Workers' Compensation Division (Division), on September 7, 1995; the 
Brief of Appellee, filed herein on behalf of Charles D. Phillips, on October 27, 
1995; and the oral argument of Mr. Gerald W. Laska and Mr. Charles D. Phillips 
on December 14, 1995, and the Court, having considered the record and the files 
of the Court and being fully advised in the premises, finds that the issue in 
the case as stated by the Division and accepted by Charles D. Phillips 
is:

Whether the hearing 
examiner abused his discretion in awarding attorney's fees where the 
applications were untimely filed and/or the amounts requested were clearly 
unreasonable.

The Court also 
finds that the Division opposed, in nine cases, a Motion for Additional 
Attorney's Fees filed in each of the respective cases by Charles D. Phillips; 
following a hearing, the Hearing Examiner, on behalf of the Office of 
Administrative Hearings, entered an Order Awarding Attorney's Fees in each of 
the respective cases; the Division filed a Motion for Reconsideration, which was 
denied in each of the respective cases; the Division filed a Petition for Review 
of Administrative Action in each of the respective cases; the District Court of 
the Third Judicial District in and for Uinta County entered an Order Granting 
Consolidation and Certification; this case is the first formal challenge of an 
award of attorney fees in a workers' compensation case since the enactment of 
WYO. STAT. § 1-14-126(b) (1995 Supp.); the record before the Court is deficient 
with respect to the factors articulated in WYO. STAT. § 1-14-126(b); "[a]n 
insufficient record to support the decision made may justify the dismissal of 
the appeal, Johnson v. Statewide Collections, Inc., 778 P.2d 93 (Wyo. 1989), or 
may merit remand for further hearing by the administrative agency. * * *" (State 
ex rel. Wyoming Workers' Compensation Div. v. Brown, 805 P.2d 830, 834 (Wyo. 
1991)); the case should be remanded to the Office of Administrative Hearings for 
the purpose of presenting the evidence with respect to the factors set forth in 
WYO. STAT. § 1-14-126(b); the Office of Administrative Hearings then may adhere 
to, or modify, its orders awarding attorney fees; the record should be 
supplemented to reflect the proceedings had and the decision made; this Court 
should not retain jurisdiction; and any future review should be conducted as a 
new proceeding; and it, therefore, is

[¶2]      ORDERED that the 
case be remanded to the Office of Administrative Hearings for the purpose of 
receiving such additional evidence and adhering to, or modifying, its orders 
awarding attorney fees; and it further is

[¶3]      ORDERED that any 
future review shall constitute a new proceeding.