A party must be aggrieved by an order to have standing to appeal it. See Mutual Serv. A person is aggrieved if an order bears directly and injuriously upon his or her interests. The person must be adversely affected in some appreciable way. Even assuming arguendo that standing exists, we reject Morters' claim that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to address the attorneys' fees issue.
Circuit courts have the inherent power to determine the reasonableness of attorney's fees.
This inherent power may be exercised either during the action from which the attorney's fees claim arises or in a subsequent action on that contract for attorney's services. The trial court's inherent power does extend to cases where there is a direct attorney-client conflict regarding the attorney's right to a portion of a judgment. It also has been exercised in situations where a dispute exists between successive attorneys as to the amount of their respective fees and the allocation of settlement proceeds to pay those fees. Contrary to Morters' contention, a trial court's inherent power to resolve an attorneys' fees issue between successive attorneys is not limited to situations where an attorney brings an independent action to recover fees. As already stated, the trial court's inherent authority may be exercised either during the action from which the attorney's fees claim arises or in a subsequent action on the contract for attorney's services.