Opinion ID: 1171472
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Costs and Attorney's Fees Awarded to Bohna.

Text: After trial, Bohna moved for costs and attorney's fees. The trial court awarded Bohna $34,454.47 in costs and $92,700.00 in attorney's fees. HT claims that this was a double recovery because of the way in which part of the $4 million paid by Allstate was allocated: $250,000 was dedicated to a litigation fund out of which the litigation against HT was financed, while a total of $625,000 went directly to Bohna's attorneys. Thus, according to HT, the court awarded costs and fees constituted a double recovery. The award of costs and attorney's fees is committed to the broad discretion of the trial court. We will not find an abuse of that discretion absent a showing that the award was arbitrary, capricious, manifestly unreasonable, or ... stem[med] from an improper motive. Tobeluk v. Lind, 589 P.2d 873, 878 (Alaska 1979). Since, in the present case, the trial court awarded fees in line with the Civil Rule 82 schedule, they are presumptively correct. Babinec v. Yabuki, 799 P.2d 1325, 1337 (Alaska 1990). This case involves a private contract which funded the litigation for which costs and fees were ultimately awarded. The question is whether such a contract should affect the award of costs and fees. We have said that Civil Rule 82 is meant to provide partial compensation to a prevailing party. Tobeluk at 876. In our view, since all litigation must be financed in some way, the purpose of Civil Rule 82 is not defeated by private agreements which accomplish this. In this case, Bohna was able to obtain financing as part of the overall agreement with Allstate and Stevens. In the course of the litigation against HT, he incurred substantial legal costs and attorney's fees. He was thus entitled to partial compensation like any other prevailing party. There was no abuse of discretion. We note, however, that on remand, the court may revise its award of costs and fees when entering the judgment directed in this opinion.