Opinion ID: 2637250
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Attorney fees issue.

Text: ¶ 5 On May 19, 2005, the trial court overruled OG & E's motion to dismiss. A year after the customer filed her petition, the electric company offered to confess judgment in the amount of $5,000.00 exclusive of any costs or attorney fees. [5] The offer of judgment was made pursuant to 12 O.S. § 940(B). [6] Subsection A [7] of the same statute specifically provides that the prevailing party shall [8] be allowed reasonable attorney fees, court costs and interest. The offer was accepted the day after its filing and in February of 2006, Spencer filed her application for attorney fees and costs in the sum of $8,775.37. Despite having made an offer of judgment under a statute allowing the collection of attorney fees, OG & E responded that none of the requested costs were recoverable and no statutory basis existed for the assessment of attorney fees. ¶ 6 In the alternative, OG & E asserted that Spencer's application for attorney fees lacked trustworthiness. The assertion was based on discrepancies existing between the submitted request and a draft billing statement Spencer provided to OG & E on January 26, 2006. [9] If attorney fees were awarded, OG & E argued that they should be reduced by $3,450.00 reflected by the alleged differences in the draft statement and the statement submitted with Spencer's application. In addition, the electric company insisted that the customer's attorney fees were unreasonable, the hourly rates were insupportable and $840.00 in fees were incurred because of the attorney's mismanagement of the cause, specifically his need to file a motion to vacate after missing a disposition docket. Finally, OG & E sought the award of attorney fees in its favor based on equitable grounds [10] alleging that Spencer misrepresented facts relating to Spencer's inability to obtain housing assistance. ¶ 7 The hearing on Spencer's attorney fees and costs application was held on April 21, 2006. The trial court found that Spencer was entitled to attorney fees under 12 O.S. Supp.2002 § 936 [11] as a result of OG & E having counterclaimed for the payment of an outstanding amount on the customer's utility account and pursuant to 12 O.S.2001 § 938 [12] allowing the recovery of attorney fees in civil actions to retrieve overpayments for utility services or to establish the right to such services. ¶ 8 At the hearing, Spencer's attorney testified as to the reasonableness of his hourly rate of $180.00 for out of court time and $250.00 for court appearances. The attorney also explained the differences between the draft statement submitted to OG & E and the statement submitted with his application for attorney fees as having resulted from computer difficulties in his office requiring him to reconstruct the statement from his office records. The attorney testified that the reformulated statement was extremely accurate and that he believed the 47.68 hours reflected in the statement were reasonable, especially considering the electric company's statements indicating they had a minimum of 125 hours of attorney time invested in the cause. [13] ¶ 9 The trial court announced its decision at the conclusion of the hearing, listing the factors to be considered under Burk v. Oklahoma City, 1979 OK 115, 598 P.2d 659 when making an attorney fees award. Nevertheless, the trial court concluded the ruling with the assumption that the suit was never anything more than a $5,000.00 case and awarded Spencer $2,500.00 to be taxed against OG & E along with costs. [14] ¶ 10 Spencer appealed asserting that the trial court abused its discretion in reducing the requested attorney fees over $6,000.00 and arguing that, rather than being reduced, the requested attorney fees should have been increased under Burk v. Oklahoma City, 1979 OK 115, 598 P.2d 659. In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals affirmed. On April 16, 2007, Spencer filed her petition for certiorari. OG & E filed its answer on May 8th. On June 28, 2007, we granted certiorari to settle the attorney fees dispute. ¶ 11 a. The failure to follow the directives of Burk v. Oklahoma City in setting the attorney fees and to make an award consistent with the evidence presented constitutes an abuse of discretion requiring reversal. ¶ 12 Spencer asserts that the trial court abused its discretion in reducing the requested fee of $8,775.37 by more than $6,000.00. OG & E argues that there was no abuse of discretion and that the award should stand. We disagree with the electric company's contention.