Opinion ID: 3167552
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the arbitration panel exceeded its authority

Text: IN AWARDING ATTORNEY FEES FOR POST-ARBITRATION PROCEEDINGS ¶16 We determine first whether, under the UUAA, “reasonable attorney fees and other reasonable expenses of arbitration” includes attorney fees for work performed in judicial proceedings reviewing an arbitration award. See UTAH CODE § 78B11-122(2). We conclude that post-arbitration attorney fees are outside of the scope of section 122 of the UUAA. ¶17 The text of section 122 provides some support for our conclusion, though perhaps not enough to decide the issue entirely. The key statutory phrase “expenses of arbitration,” id., could plausibly be read to include either all expenses involved in obtaining and enforcing an arbitration award—the same way “the cost of a suit” would normally include the costs of appeal—or it may include only the expenses involved in presenting one’s case to the arbitration 5 WESTGATE v. CONSUMER PROTECTION GROUP Opinion of the Court panel. But this second, narrower interpretation is supported by section 122’s title: “Remedies—Fees and expenses of arbitration proceeding.” Id. § 78B-11-122 (emphasis added). ¶18 Seeking further support for the narrow interpretation, we turn to the statute’s legislative history but find it unhelpful. The relevant language was passed in 2002 and was taken almost word for word from the 2000 Revised Uniform Arbitration Act. See 2002 Utah Laws 1573, 1578; Uniform Arbitration Act—2000 (Last Revisions Completed Year 2000), 3 PEPP. DISP. RESOL. L.J. 323, 392 (2003). When we look to the comments in the uniform act, we find that they do not elaborate on the crucial phrase “expenses of arbitration.” Uniform Arbitration Act—2000, supra, at 393–96. When we review the other jurisdictions that have adopted the uniform act—eighteen states and the District of Columbia—we find that none of their cases interpreting the statute have considered this question either. ¶19 But we do find support in another section of the Utah statute. Section 126, though it does not mention arbitrators’ authority to award attorney fees, specifically gives district courts authority to award the attorney fees at issue here: “On application of a prevailing party to a contested judicial proceeding under [the sections governing confirmation, vacatur, and modification of an arbitrator’s award], the court may add reasonable attorney fees and other reasonable expenses of litigation incurred in [such a proceeding].” UTAH CODE § 78B-11-126(3) (emphasis added). ¶20 Admittedly, this section does not say, “only the court may add reasonable attorney fees,” and there is no reason why the legislature could not, if it chose, give the authority to award these fees both to the district court and to the arbitration panel. But we are persuaded that it has not done so. The statute appears to reflect an assumption that the judicial proceedings confirming an arbitrator’s award will begin after the arbitrator’s work is complete, and consequently that the arbitrator will have no opportunity to award attorney fees incurred in confirmation proceedings. 5 From this we surmise that if the legislature never imagined that arbitrators might have the opportunity to award fees for confirmation proceedings, then it had no reason to give them the authority to award such fees. ¶21 Finally, our conclusion is also supported by policy concerns that have long guided Utah’s attorney fee jurisprudence. 5 This seems to be the ordinary procedure, which explains why we are unable to find any cases where an arbitrator has awarded attorney fees for judicial proceedings confirming the arbitrator’s own order. 6 Cite as: 2016 UT 2 Opinion of the Court The court of appeals has held repeatedly that a trial court may not award attorney fees arising from appellate proceedings unless the appellate court has explicitly directed the trial court to do so. See Anderson v. Thompson, 2010 UT App 359, ¶ 4, 248 P.3d 981; Cache Cty. v. Beus, 2005 UT App 503, ¶ 17 n.7, 128 P.3d 63; Slattery v. Covey & Co., 909 P.2d 925, 929 (Utah Ct. App. 1995); TS 1 P’ship v. Allred, 877 P.2d 156, 160 n.2 (Utah Ct. App. 1994). As other jurisdictions have recognized, the basis for this doctrine is that the appellate court is best qualified to determine whether an award is justified: An appellate court is in a far better position to evaluate the worth of the appellate work than the trial judge. . . . An appellate Justice . . . develops a knowledge of the case and the value of the work of the attorney who seeks compensation. A trial judge simply cannot bring to bear this familiarity with the appellate work. Yorke Mgmt. v. Castro, 546 N.E.2d 342, 344 (Mass. 1989). ¶22 The same principle applies here. The decision-makers most familiar with CPG’s attorneys’ work during the confirmation proceedings and resulting appeal were the courts that presided over those confirmation proceedings and resulting appeal. We think it best to assign those courts sole responsibility for granting attorney fees in those proceedings, and we therefore conclude that the panel exceeded its authority when it ordered Westgate to pay postarbitration attorney fees. 6