Opinion ID: 2603822
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Attorneys' Fees and Costs Awarded to the League

Text: As part of Decision No. 86103, the PUC directed Mountain Bell to pay attorneys' fees, expert witness fees, and costs incurred by the League as a protestant-intervenor in this rate case. The total amount of these fees and costs was $19,500 which the PUC ordered Mountain Bell to remit to the League within 60 days from the effective date of its order. Mountain Bell urges that we invalidate this award of attorneys' fees and costs on the ground that the PUC has no statutory or other authority to make such an award. We do not agree that the PUC has no such authority. We hold that authority to make such an award emanates from Art. XXV of the Constitution of the State of Colorado which delegates to the PUC legislative authority and power not only to issue certificates of public convenience and necessity but also to regulate rates to be charged by public utilities. This legislative authority which the PUC exercises is well described and delineated in Miller Bros., Inc. v. PUC, 185 Colo. 414, 525 P.2d 443 (1974) as follows: . . . Colo. Const. Art. XXV has granted to the Commission authority to issue certificates of public convenience and necessity . . . This is a legislative function . . . and, until the General Assembly restricts it, the Commission has as much authority as the legislature possessed prior to the adoption of Article XXV in 1954. The power to authorize the award of attorneys' fees and other legal costs in cases tried before administrative bodies is generally accepted as a fundamental legislative prerogative. Under our constitution, the legislative authority in public utility matters has been delegated to the PUC and the legislature has not by any statutory enactment restricted it in the matter of awarding attorney fees and other legal costs. On the contrary, we deem the following statute to be a recognition and a more specific grant by the legislature of authority in this and in other areas of rate regulation. Section 40-3-102, C.R.S.1973 provides:  Regulation of ratescorrection of abuses. The power and authority is hereby vested in the public utilities commission of the state of Colorado and it is hereby made its duty to adopt all necessary rates, charges, and regulations to govern and regulate all rates, charges, and tariffs of every public utility of this state to correct abuses; to prevent unjust discriminations and extortions in the rates, charges, and tariffs of such public utilities of this state; to generally supervise and regulate every public utility in this state; and to do all things, whether specifically designated in articles 1 to 7 of this title or in addition thereto, which are necessary or convenient in the exercise of such power, and to enforce the same by the penalties provided in said articles through proper courts having jurisdiction. (Emphasis added.) It can therefore be said that the PUC in the area of utility regulation, including rate making, has broadly based authority to do whatever it deems necessary or convenient to accomplish the legislative functions delegated to it. In support of the foregoing propositions, Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company v. PUC, 180 Colo. 74, 502 P.2d 945 (1972), held that it was within the jurisdiction of the PUC to award attorney fees to the League out of a refund amount which Mountain Bell was required to divide among its consumers. Confronted with that case, Mountain Bell in its brief argues that all it did was to recognize a common fund theory which would justify the award of attorney fees. Accordingly, Mountain Bell argues that since no refund has been awarded in the instant case, no common fund has been created from which attorneys' fees may be paid. We do not subscribe to this argument because in our view that case discloses that the existence of a common fund was only an incidental consideration in concluding that the PUC has authority to award attorneys' fees in certain cases justifying such an award. On the basis of the constitutional and statutory grant of legislative authority, the PUC has always allowed Mountain Bell to charge off as a proper operating expense attorneys' fees and legal costs incurred in its efforts before the PUC to increase rates. The League's attorneys' fees and other legal costs advanced in this case for the purpose of protesting higher telephone rates on behalf of all consumers, fall into the same category. This is so because the award was made only after the PUC concluded that the protestant-intervenor (League) conformed to the standards which the PUC previously adopted as a prerequisite to awarding any attorney fees or other legal costs incurred by the League during the pendency of this case before the PUC. In its decision, the PUC set forth the following standards as a basis for this award: The representation of the Protestant-Intervenor and the expenses incurred relate to general consumer interests and not to a specific rate or preferential treatment of a particular class of ratepayers. The testimony, evidence and exhibits introduced in this proceeding by the Protestant-Intervenor have or will materially assist the Commission in fulfilling its statutory duty to determine the just and reasonable rates which Mountain Bell shall be permitted to charge its customers. The fees and costs incurred by the Protestant-Intervenor for which reimbursement is sought are reasonable charges for the services rendered on behalf of general consumer interests. By applying these standards and finding that the League's efforts in this case met these criteria, we hold that not only did the PUC have the authority to make the award but that it was made in accordance with appropriate guidelines.