Opinion ID: 1159929
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did the Superior Court Abuse its Discretion in its Award of Attorney's Fees to Xerox?

Text: The Hayeses contend that the superior court erred in its award of attorney's fees in two respects: First, the amount is unjust, excessive and the court did not explain its reasons for arriving at the amount finally awarded; second, Xerox's fee request did not detail the amount of time devoted to specific tasks. Alaska Civil Rule 68 controls the determination of attorney's fees and costs in this case. See supra for text of Rule 68. When the judgment recovered is less than an offer of judgment made under Rule 68, then the offeree must pay partial attorney's fees incurred subsequent to the offer. See Truckweld Equipment Co. v. Swenson Trucking, 649 P.2d 234, 240 (Alaska 1982); Miklautsch v. Dominick, 452 P.2d 438, 440-41 (Alaska 1969). The cost provision of Rule 68 confers a limited prevailing party status on a defendant. Scott v. Robertson, 583 P.2d 188, 194 (Alaska 1978). This court has held that a court can not award actual fees but may award some fees as partial compensation. Jakoski v. Holland, 520 P.2d 569, 578-79 (Alaska 1974). In reviewing an award of attorney's fees under Rule 68, we must ask whether the award was manifestly unreasonable. Scott, 583 P.2d at 194-95. This court has held that a trial court should state its reasons when it makes an award of attorney's fees which varies from the schedule in Rule 82(a)(1). [8] Farnsworth v. Steiner, 601 P.2d 266, 272 (Alaska 1979). In the present case, Judge Blair stated that he awarded defendants $25,000 attorney's fees in order to partially compensate them. Although he applied the correct standard of partial compensation in determining the fees, he did not state his reasons for awarding $25,000. We must know the court's reasons for awarding a specific amount to determine whether it is manifestly unreasonable. In addition, the court should have required Xerox to itemize its fee request. In Moses v. McGarvey, 614 P.2d 1363, 1374 n. 32 (Alaska 1980), we stated that when counsel requests attorney's fees, other than based on the schedule in Rule 82(a)(1), accurate records of the hours expended and a brief description of the services reflected by those hours should be submitted. Under Moses, Xerox's counsel should have specified the services included in those hours submitted. Therefore, we remand this issue so that the superior court can order Xerox's counsel to itemize the hours and nature of the work spent on this case then award partial attorney's fees accompanied by an explanation of its reasons for choosing its final award.