Case Name: GOUDA v. DETROIT-MACOMB HOSPITALS ASSOCIATION
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1974-04-26
Citations: 52 Mich. App. 516
Docket Number: Docket No. 14155
Parties: GOUDA v DETROIT-MACOMB HOSPITALS ASSOCIATION
Judges: Before: J. H. Gillis, P. J., and Quinn and O’Hara, JJ.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 52
Pages: 516–521

Head Matter:
GOUDA v DETROIT-MACOMB HOSPITALS ASSOCIATION
Opinion of the Court
1. Costs—Court Rules—Statutes—Attorneys’ Fees.
A trial court is bound by existing court rules and statutes in awarding attorney fees, until further authority is granted.
Concurrence in Part, Dissent in Part by J. H. Gillis, P. J.
2. Costs—Court Rules—Statutes—Attorneys’ Fees.
American courts usually refuse recovery of attorneys’ fees in the absence of statute or court rule.
3. Costs—Attorneys’ Fees—Bad Faith Claim—Court Rule.
A trial court’s award of attorney fees to defendants should be sustained where the plaintiff’s claim was so palpably unreasonable as to amount to bad faith and where the trial court, in awarding attorneys’ fees, implicitly concluded that the plaintiff’s allegations were unwarranted and unreasonable (GCR 1963, 111.6).
Reference for Points in Headnotes
20 Am Jur 2d, Courts §§ 84, 163.
Appeal from Wayne, John T. Schubel, J.
Submitted Division 1 March 13, 1974, at Detroit.
(Docket No. 14155.)
Decided April 26, 1974.
Leave to appeal denied, 392 Mich 770.
Complaint by Salah Gouda, M.D., against Detroit-Macomb Hospitals Association, Jack Ryan, M.D., Elmer P. Elias, M.D., Delmo A. Paris, M.D., David Jacknow, M.D., and David Lindner, M.D., for reinstatment to the medical staff of South Macomb Hospital and damages arising from his demotion and later suspension from that staff. Judgment for defendants and award of attorneys’ fees to defendants. Plaintiff appeals.
Affirmed except as to award of attorneys’ fees.
Paul L. Nine and Carl J. Marlinga, for plaintiff.
Clark, Klein, Winter, Parsons & Prewitt (by H. William Butler and Robert G. Buydens) (Kitch & Suhrheinrich, P. C., by Norman D. Tucker, of counsel), for defendants Detroit-Macomb Hospitals Association, Delmo A. Paris, M.D., David Jacknow, M.D., and David Lindner, M.D.
Garan, Lucow, Miller, Lehman, Seward & Cooper, for defendants Jack Ryan, M.D., and Elmer P. Elias, M.D.
Before: J. H. Gillis, P. J., and Quinn and O’Hara, JJ.
Former Supreme Court Justice, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment pursuant to Const 1963, art 6, § 23 as amended in 1968.

Opinion:
Quinn, J.
By this action, plaintiff sought reinstatement to the medical staff of South Macomb Hospital and money damages allegedly arising from his demotion and later suspension from that staff. After a lengthy trial before the court, without a jury, the trial judge filed extensive findings of fact and conclusions of law as the basis for a judgment in favor of defendants. That judgment entered and plaintiff was assessed $12,000 attorney fees as part of the taxed costs. Plaintiff appeals.
Record review discloses evidentiary support for the trial court's findings of fact. These findings of fact support the conclusions of law. We find no procedural errors that require reversal. The judgment in favor of defendants is affirmed.
Until granted further authority, a trial court is bound by existing court rules and statutes in awarding attorney fees, State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co v Allen, 50 Mich App 71; 212 NW2d 821 (1973). There is no statute or court rule authorizing the contested award of attorney fees in this case.
Affirmed except as to the award of attorney fees. That award is reversed and remanded for taxation of attorney fees pursuant to applicable statutes and court rules. Defendants may recover costs.
O'Hara, J., concurred.