Opinion ID: 4549035
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: William Sellers was injured while working for Reefer Systems, Inc., in 2007. In 2019, the Workers’ Compensation Court awarded him permanent total disability benefits. Reefer Systems appealed the award to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals affirmed the award in all respects in a memorandum opinion issued on October 8, 2019. 1 Sellers timely filed a motion in the Court of Appeals for an award of reasonable attorney fees pursuant to § 48-125(4)(b) for the reason that the employer appealed the trial court decision and there was no reduction in the amount of the award on appeal. Attached to the motion is the affidavit of Sellers’ counsel who worked on the appeal. Counsel avers that he spent 37.8 hours in total on the appeal, beginning April 18, 2019, and ending May 7, and opines that was “a reasonable amount of time for the work involved.” Counsel describes that he has been an attorney since 1997 and that since 1999, a substantial portion of his practice has been workers’ compensation cases. He avers that his hourly rate ranges from $140 to $245 per hour, that he is generally familiar with hourly rates charged by other 1 Sellers v. Reefer Systems, No. A-19-082, 2019 WL 4940200 (Neb. App. Oct. 8, 2019) (selected for posting to court website). - 871 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 305 Nebraska Reports SELLERS v. REEFER SYSTEMS Cite as 305 Neb. 868 litigation attorneys in this geographic area, and that an hourly rate of $200 per hour for his work on Sellers’ appeal would be reasonable and consistent with fees charged in this area for attorneys of similar background and skill. Counsel avers, further, that he derived the number of hours spent on the appeal from an audit of records maintained by his law firm’s staff and himself, consistent with their regular and established business practices. He notes that the audit revealed its first entry on April 18, 2019, as reviewing the bill of exceptions, and, as its last entry, revising Sellers’ brief. The hours assigned to these particular tasks is not set forth. No other tasks are specifically delineated. The referenced records were not attached to the affidavit. Counsel notes in the affidavit that he represented Sellers “on a contingent fee.” The details of that arrangement are not otherwise described. The Court of Appeals denied the motion for attorney fees on the ground that counsel’s affidavit did not provide sufficient information to justify the reasonableness of the attorney fees sought. The Court of Appeals issued the following minute entry: [Sellers’] motion for attorney fees denied. Affidavit fails to justify amount of attorney fees sought. See Neb. Ct. R. App. P. § 2-109(F). See also St. John v. Gering Public Schools, 302 Neb. 269, 923 N.W.2d 68 (2019) (in seeking attorney fee[s], lawyer has burden of proving not only extent and value of services provided, but also existence and terms of fee contract). We granted Sellers’ petition for further review of this order of the Court of Appeals which overruled his motion for attorney fees. ASSIGNMENTS OF ERRORS Sellers assigns that the Court of Appeals erred in (1) overruling Sellers’ motion for statutory attorney fees and (2) imposing a burden of proof regarding attorney fees derived from fee disputes between attorneys or between an attorney and client. - 872 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 305 Nebraska Reports SELLERS v. REEFER SYSTEMS Cite as 305 Neb. 868