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Timestamp: 2019-04-23 00:18:53+00:00

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MANDAMUS - NATURE AND GROUNDS - NATURE OF REMEDY. A proceeding for a writ of mandate is but another form of civil action; and under Rem. Rev. Stat., § 481, costs to be called the attorney fee allowable to a successful litigant in a civil action are limited to ten dollars where judgment is rendered without a jury.
 DAMAGES - NATURE AND GROUNDS - COSTS. The term "damage" means the compensation which the law will award for an injury done; and, apart from the sums allowable and taxed as costs, there can be no recovery as damages of the costs and expenses of litigation unless the circumstances of the particular case withdraw it from the general rule.
 COSTS - NATURE OF RIGHT - DEPENDENT UPON STATUTE - COUNSEL FEES. Costs are allowances to a party for the expense incurred in prosecuting or defending a suit; and, in the absence of statute or agreement, the term does not include counsel fees.
 SAME - AMOUNT - ATTORNEY'S FEES - STATUTORY PROVISIONS. The successful litigant in an ordinary civil action may recover only such attorney fees as the statute or agreement of the parties provides shall be taxed as costs in the action.
Appeal from a judgment of the superior court for Kitsap county, Meakim, J., entered July 17, 1940, upon findings, denying the recovery of attorney's fees in mandamus proceedings, tried to the court. Affirmed.
Tom W. Holman and Harold A. Pebbles, for appellant.
Marion Garland and James W. Bryan, Jr., for respondents.
«1» Reported in 111 P. (2d) 612.
 See 15 Am. Jur. 550.
94 STATE EX REL. MACRI v. BREMERTON.
In August, 1937, Sam Macri and the city of Bremerton entered into a written contract for the construction, by Macri, of a city sewer system. Under one of the provisions of that contract, Macri was obligated to indemnify and hold harmless the city of Bremerton from any and all claims for damages arising from or through the operation of contractor Macri, which provision included all claims for injuries or damages to the property or right of any person. The city was authorized, in the event of the failure of contractor Macri to obtain a valid release of any and all such claims prior to the final acceptance of the work, to settle or compromise such claims and charge the cost thereof to the contractor as so paid on the contract.
About four months prior to the completion of the work under the contract, Walter R. Warren filed with the city of Bremerton a claim, in December, 1937, for damages in the amount of four thousand five hundred dollars for alleged removal of lateral support to his land through the contractor's operations. Without notification to the contractor of the claim, the city rejected the claim.
Mar. 1941] Opinion Per MILLARD, J.
the city, solely, in the amount of twelve hundred dollars, which judgment was taken without knowledge of Macri and his surety. Warren satisfied the judgment of record pursuant to the procedure prescribed by Rem. Rev. Stat., § 953 [P. C. § 8396], and demanded a warrant from the city in payment of that judgment.
The then city attorney of Bremerton, who is responsible for the city's wilful default, allowed entry and satisfaction of record of the default judgment, rejected certified copy of such judgment satisfaction as a claim, and appeared in, but did not resist, entry of decree in mandamus proceedings instituted June 22, 1938, by Warren to compel the city of Bremerton to issue to him a warrant in payment of his judgment. Macri and his surety had no notice of that proceeding.
The city then notified Macri and his surety of the mandate judgment and demanded that they pay same. Macri and his surety, after serving notice upon Warren, procured two orders, in the action instituted by Warren upon his claim, dismissing the action against them. The city was notified through its then city attorney that Macri and his surety would not pay the mandate judgment, and that they would hold the city responsible for any payment thereof from Macri's retained percentage of the contract price for the sewer construction. Despite that notice, the city paid Warren out of that retained percentage the amount of the mandate judgment.
96 STATE EX REL. MACRI v. BREMERTON.
of a decree awarding Macri the total amount of the retained percentage in the amount of $6,058.10 "less any claims filed as provided for by law." The city did not appeal from that decree, nor did it formally accept Macri's work or pay to him the amount of the retained percentage as fixed by the decree. It submitted, instead, to Macri, and insisted upon his acceptance of two claims designated "purchase requisitions," the effect of which was to deduct from the retained percentage amounts representing the Warren judgment and also two other damage claims which were subsequently disallowed.
Macri thereupon instituted contempt proceeding to compel obedience by the city and its officers to the decree and peremptory writ of mandate. The defense pleaded in the contempt proceeding was payment by the city of the judgment in the Warren action. The trial court held that the Warren judgment was a proper deductible item, on the theory that it had been concluded by the Warren litigation. Macri appealed from that judgment.
was reversed, and the cause remanded with direction to the trial court to proceed in accordance with the foregoing views.
Pursuant to the foregoing, a further hearing was had which resulted in findings that Macri was entitled to judgment against the city of Bremerton in the amount of $6,058.10, with costs which included the statutory attorney's fee of ten dollars. The trial court specifically found that Macri had been compelled to secure, and there had been furnished him, very considerable legal services in this litigation, and that such services were to an unusual extent required by the conduct of the city officers; and that the reasonable value of such legal services as sustained by the uncontroverted evidence is fifteen per cent of the total amount to be recovered by Macri in this litigation. However, the trial court was convinced that an attorney's fee in excess of the amount fixed by statute was not recoverable. Judgment was entered in consonance with the foregoing. The city's tender of cash payment of the judgment, including the statutory attorney's fee of ten dollars, was accepted with the exception of the item of ten dollars. The appeal is prosecuted by Macri from that portion of the judgment which awards to him only the statutory attorney's fee of ten dollars.
The sole question presented by this appeal is whether, by reason of the fact that the city was adjudged to have wrongfully paid from and withheld the balance of appellant contractor's retained percentage earned under the public works contract in question, the contractor was entitled to recovery against the city, as costs or damages, an attorney's fee in excess of the amount fixed by statute (Rem. Rev. Stat., § 481 [P. C. § 7462]), in action against the city to collect the retained percentage.
98 STATE EX REL. MACRI v. BREMERTON.
". . . involved an indemnitor's rights under subrogation of the surety's claim to protection because of the school district's premature payment to its contractor Hammond from the retained percentage fund."
fees of one hundred and twenty dollars and costs in the amount of $33.20.
In accordance with the indemnity agreement, Stubbs Electric Company satisfied that judgment, in addition to which the electric company paid attorneys' fees and costs of one hundred and fifty-three dollars incurred by the surety in defending the action brought against it by the time recording company. The trial court held that the electric company was entitled to be subrogated to the rights of the surety company, as against the school district, and awarded judgment against the school district for $801.20, from which judgment the school district appealed.
100 STATE EX REL. MACRI v. BREMERTON.
the surety, was subrogated to all of the rights of the surety; and that, as the natural and proximate consequence of appellant's wrongful act involved the electric company in litigation with others, the electric company was entitled to a recovery in damages against the school district, the author of the act, of the reasonable expenses incurred in such litigation together with compensation for attorneys' fees and such costs as may have been awarded the plaintiff, the Stubbs Electric Company in that case. 17 C. J. 809, and Curtley v. Security Savings Society, 46 Wash. 50, 89 Pac. 180, were cited as sustaining authority.
The doctrine of subrogation was involved in Longview School Dist. No. 112 v. Stubbs Electric Co., supra, and the basis of our decision, that the respondent was entitled to an allowance of attorneys' fees and other expenses as damages incurred in collateral proceedings as the natural and proximate consequence of the admittedly wrongful act of the school district, distinguishes that case on the facts from the case at bar. As stated above, no argument was made, nor was the question discussed in brief or opinion, whether attorneys fees, apart from the amount allowed and taxed as costs pursuant to statutory authority therefor, could be recovered as damages or as costs. In the case at bar, the action is between the two litigants, and there has not been at any time an action against a third party for which appellant could successfully claim an attorney's fee as part of his damage.
sustained by reason of failure of title to the property he was purchasing under his contract. This is in harmony with some authorities to the effect that attorneys' fees incurred in good faith in an endeavor to save one's self from loss occasioned by the wrongful act of another may be recovered in an action against the wrongdoer. 17 C. J. 809-811, § 135.
The rule governing the allowance of costs in civil actions has been settled so long that an extensive discussion at this time of the subject would not be warranted, if it were not for the reliance of counsel for appellant on Longview School List. No. 112 v. Stubbs Electric Co., 160 Wash. 465, 295 Pac. 186 (which is distinguishable from the case at bar), and the confidence with which counsel for appellant press the point that, in the absence of contract, the court may allow counsel fees in excess of the fees fixed by statute to a successful litigant in a civil action.
 This proceeding - the case at bar - for a writ of mandate is but another form of civil action. State ex rel. LaFollette v. Hinkle, 131 Wash. 86, 229 Pac. 317. Under the statute (Rem. Rev. Stat., § 481) "costs to be called the attorney fee" which may be allowed to a successful litigant in a civil action are limited to ten dollars in all actions where judgment is rendered without a jury.
102 STATE EX REL. MACRI v. BREMERTON.
distinct and costs are awarded as damages only where the circumstances of the particular case withdraw it from the general rule. 17 C. J. 710.
 The term "costs" may be considered as synonymous with the term "expense." Costs are allowances to a party for the expense incurred in prosecuting or defending a suit. 15 C. J. 20. The word "costs" in the absence of statute or agreement does not include counsel fees; in other words, the general rule is that counsel fees are not costs either in suits in equity or actions at law.
"The amount and items recoverable as attorneys' fees must of course depend on the statutes or stipulations of the parties authorizing their allowance. Although there is some authority to the contrary, if a specific amount is prescribed by statute, the court cannot allow a greater sum." 15 C. J. 117.
 This action is governed by the rule which applies in all ordinary civil actions; that is, the successful litigant may recover only such attorney fees as the statute or agreement of the parties provides shall be taxed as costs in the action. Easterbrooks v. Abrahams, 200 Wash. 636, 94 P. (2d) 486.
issuance of an injunction, but this is so hedged about with limitations as to make the rule inapplicable to other situations. More than this, the rule is one that the court dies not desire to extend."
"The appellant insists that he is entitled to recover $200 attorney's fees from Douglas county, as his damages incurred by reason of the refusal of the county officers to allow and pay his claim. This contention cannot be sustained. The statute of this state fixes the attorney's fees that may be allowed to a successful litigant as costs in civil actions, and no additional fees for their prosecution should be allowed without statutory authority."
Equity may allow counsel fees to complainant who has maintained a successful suit for preservation, protection, or creation of common fund or who has created or brought into court such fund. The rule, however, allowing complainant counsel fees for creating or preserving common fund is not applicable to the facts in the case at bar.
104 STATE EX REL. MACRI v. BREMERTON.
it lies within the power of the court as a court of equity to make the successful litigant an allowance of costs "as between solicitor and client," for counsel fees and litigation expenses, to be paid out of the earmarked funds. Sprague v. Ticonic Nat. Bank, supra, is clearly distinguishable from the case at bar.
In Houston Oil Terminal Co. v. Shreveport, 172 La. 994, 136 So. 29, the supreme court of Louisiana held, following the general rule, that, in absence of contract, statute, or recognized ground of equity, attorney fees are not recoverable by a successful litigant as "costs"; that a materialman is not entitled to recover counsel fees for instituting suit against city for payment from balance due paving contractor.
In Jenkins v. Commercial Nat. Bank of St. Anthony, 19 Idaho 290, 113 Pac. 463, it was held, in an action for damages for the wrongful foreclosure of a chattel mortgage, that the successful plaintiff could not recover attorneys' fees in view of the absence of statutory authority or express agreement of the parties therefor. Cline v. Stratton, 233 Ky. 568, 26 S. W. (2d) 487, in which counsel fees were allowed in an action for settlement of an estate falls within the rule that equity may allow counsel fees to a litigant who has successfully maintained suit for preservation, protection, or creation of a common fund.
is not enough to say that the foreclosure is wrongful, illegal, or tortious. Ordinarily one suffering from such a wrong cannot recover the counsel fees incurred in resistance of it, but will be limited to the attorney fee allowed by statute to be taxed as costs. The case of Chartier v. Marshall, 56 N. H. 478, obscure in its facts and with no definite discussion of the principles involved, cannot be regarded as authority to govern the situation here presented, even if it has not in fact been overruled by the latter cases.
"Counsel fees other than statutory costs have been allowed under certain classifications. They include (1) cases of enforcement of judicial authority, as where misconduct of a party amounting to contempt of court has caused the opposing party to incur counsel fees (Barber v. Company, 80 N. H. 507, 511, 512), or where a person retains possession of property after a judicial determination of the wrongful character of his possession, thus forcing the party wronged to the expense of further proceedings to recover possession or otherwise enforce his rights (Fowler v. Owen, 68 N. H. 270; Manchester v. Hodge, 75 N. H. 502; Jacques v. Company, 78 N. H. 248). Even in the second proceeding to enforce rights judicially declared in a prior action, the wronged party is not allowed anything for counsel fees in the first litigation. His only right as to counsel fees in the earlier proceeding is to have the statutory costs taxed therein. Hersey v. Hutchins, 71 N. H. 458.
"(2) Counsel fees other than those permitted by statute may be allowed by the court as the price of terms. Thus they may be taxed against the applicant for a new trial in some cases as terms for the granting of the motion. Watkins v. Railroad, 80 N. H. 468. And a party guilty of misconduct in consequence of which a mistrial is ordered may properly be required to pay counsel fees to the opposing party as the price of another trial. Moses v. Craig, 77 N. H. 586.
106 STATE EX REL. MACRI v. BREMERTON.
Solomon v. Chesley, 59 N. H. 24) and in sheriff's bonds (Hoitt v. Holcomb, 32 N. H. 185, 211); or it may be implied in some cases of indemnity, as where the party indemnified calls in the indemnitor to defend a suit upon the obligation the latter has agreed to pay (Fairfield v. Day, 71 N. H. 63). It may also be implied in cases where expenses by one of several interested parties have tended to the common benefit of all and the one may have contribution from the others (Rollins v. Rice, 59 N. H. 493, 498).
"(4) Counsel fees other than statutory costs may also be allowed to a stakeholder out of the res, as (a) in the case of a trustee's petition for instructions (Rollins v. Rice, supra), (b) in petitions for partition and (c) in bills of interpleader, where the stakeholder may have costs attendant upon his bringing the fund and the question of the rights of adverse claimants into the court for adjudication (Farley v. Blood, 30 N. H. 354, 374), counsel fees sometimes being allowed as a charge against the fund.
"(5) In domestic relations cases the court has some discretionary powers relative to allowing substantial counsel fees. In divorce proceedings the power is limited. The court (a) may allow a wife who is libelee a reasonable sum to prosecute her defence when she appears to have a good defence and is without property, (b) denies such fees to a wife who is libelant pending the proceedings, but (c) may take the expenses of her suit into account, if she is given a divorce, in the award of alimony. Wallace v. Wallace, 75 N. H. 217. The principal possibly extends to proceedings involving the custody of children.
"The case here falls into none of these classes, and if the foregoing analysis is not exhaustive, the counsel fees to which these defendants are entitled seem clearly subject to the statutory regulation and not distinct therefrom upon any principle heretofore recognized. The master's ruling was correct."
proceeding is a civil action and is governed by the statute relating to costs; and that the right to reasonable costs in an action or other judicial proceeding is a creature of the statute.
In a concurring opinion in State v. Pearl, 163 Wash. 268, 1 P. (2d) 315, it was observed that, while the courts did not at the common law have authority to award costs in criminal proceedings, and, in the absence of statutory authorization therefor, a judgment for costs can not be rendered against a state in a criminal case (United States ex rel. Phillips v. Gaines, 131 U. S. clxix Appendix), immediately prior to our Revolution, costs were awarded pursuant to statutes to the victorious litigant in those cases in which the king was not a party; and that those statutes are a part of the common law of this country.
108 STATE EX REL. MACRI v. BREMERTON.
110 STATE EX REL. MACRI v. BREMERTON.
conqueror. We inherited the principle thereof as part of the common law. In some form it has found a place in the code of every state of the Union that has followed common-law ideas, notwithstanding the adoption at the same time, in the constitutions of such states, of the essential principles of Magna Carta.
"We often see it stated that costs are a creature of the statute; that costs were not given at common law. Wisconsin C. R. Co. v. Kneale, 79 Wis. 89, 95 N. W. 248; Parsons, Costs, § 1. That is liable to be misunderstood by not considering that the common law of England is not synonymous with the common law of this country. The former does not include the English statutes. As the only way costs were imposed before such statutes was by amercements for the benefit of the king, or possibly an addition to the verdict or the judgment of the jury (5 Ency. Pl. & Pr. 108), it is right to say costs were not allowed by the common law of England. But the principles of the English statutes amending the common law and existing at the time of our Revolution, suitable to our condition and in harmony with our constitution and statutes, are a part of the common law of this country. Coburn v. Harvey, 18 Wis. 147, Kellogg v. C. & N. W. R. Co., 26 Wis. 223. As only the principle of the English statutes as to costs and security for costs has been regarded as thus made a part of the common law of this country, the idea that costs are regulated wholly by statute is of course true. Nash v. Meggett, 39 Wis. 486, 494, 61 N. W. 283." 121 Wis. 127, 99 N. W. 909.
112 STATE EX REL. MACRI v. BREMERTON.
statute of Gloucester, 6 Edw. I, c. 1, as did the statute of Marlbridge, 52 Hen. III, c. 6, to the defendant in one particular case, relative to wardship in chivalry: though in reality costs were considered and included in the quantum of damages, in such actions where damages are given; and, even now, costs for the plaintiff are always entered on the roll as increase of damages by the court. (q) But, because those damages were frequently inadequate to the plaintiff's expenses, the statute of Gloucester orders costs to be also added; and farther directs, that the same rule shall hold place in all cases where the party is to recover damages. And, therefore, in such actions where no damages were then recoverable (as in quare impedit, in which damages were not given till the statute of Westm. 2, 13 Edw. 1), no costs are now allowed; (r) unless they have been expressly given by some subsequent statute. The statute 3 Hen. VII, c. 10, was the first which allowed any costs on a writ of error. But no costs were allowed the defendant in any shape, till the statutes 23 Hen. VIII, c. 15, 4 Jac. 1, c. 3, 8 and 9 Wm. III, c. 11, 4 and 5 Ann. c. 16, which very equitably gave the defendant, if he prevailed, the same costs as the plaintiff would have had, in case he had recovered. These costs on both sides are taxed and moderated by the prothonotary, or other proper officer of the court."
An examination of the authorities discloses that the idea, as observed in Harrigan v. Gilchrist, supra, that costs are regulated wholly by statute is true; and that a party who claims to be entitled to a judgment for costs against his adversary must bring himself within the operation of some statutory provision.
"The statutes in some instances have declared that the prevailing party shall recover his costs in all civil actions or proceedings of any kind. Other statutes allow costs to the successful party as a matter of right or `of course' in actions or proceedings which involve controversies as to certain subjects of litigation, such as the title to, or possession of, real property and demands for money or damages.
"In equity proceedings the allowance and imposition of costs, unless otherwise governed by statute or rules of court, do not always follow the outcome of the suit, but rest in the sound discretion of the court according to the justice of the cause or the facts and circumstances of the particular case. 14 Am. Jur. 15-16.
"The right to recover attorneys' fees from one's opponent in litigation as a part of the costs thereof does not exist at common law. Such an item of expense is not allowable in the absence of a statute or of some agreement expressly authorizing the taxing of attorneys' fees in addition to the ordinary statutory costs. This rule is not changed by the fact that fraudulent or malicious acts are disclosed, although in certain circumstances fraud or malice may furnish a basis for the recovery of the expenses of litigation, including counsel fees, as an element of damages . . .
"The term `costs' or `expenses' as used in a statute is not understood ordinarily to include attorneys' fees." 14 Am. Jur. 38.
"A court has no power to award costs unless such power is derived from statute. It has been held that the exercise of this power by the United States Supreme Court, sitting as a court of original jurisdiction in equity, is incidental to its authority as a court of equity, although such power has never been expressly conferred by any act of Congress." 14 Am. Jur. 52.
fee as part of the costs of litigation. The statute (Rem. Rev. Stat., § 481) fixed the attorney fee which may be allowed to a successful litigant as costs in a civil action, like the case at bar, in the amount of ten dollars; therefore, no allowance in excess of that amount may be awarded to appellant.
ROBINSON, C. J., BEALS, SIMPSON, and JEFFERS, JJ., concur.

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