Opinion ID: 1345977
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: costs awarded to richardson and turner

Text: In court-determined attorney fees wide discretion vests in the trial court. However, when the amount is patently inadequate, that discretion is abused and constitutes legal error. Here, the legal services rendered by counsel for Richardson and Turner, in the preparation of pleadings, in trial preparation and in the adversary trial proceedings, clearly exceeded a value of $400.00. Initially, the action filed by Shipp was the subject of a demurrer, heard and ruled upon by Special Judge David Maring; after the re-draft of Shipp's complaint, preparation for trial, including discovery, was required; at the subsequent trial the motion of Richardson and Turner for involuntary nonsuit, vigorously argued and not frivolous, was made at conclusion of Shipp's case; Shipp's motion to reopen his case for submission of additional evidence was followed by his motion for voluntary nonsuit without prejudice, also vigorously contested by Richardson and Turner. Finally, as a result of the foregoing, the litigation is extended to a possible second trial which Richardson and Turner must bear the legal cost of defending. While the possibility of defending another suit shall not defeat a motion for voluntary nonsuit without prejudice, Walker, supra , it is a factor to be considered in the context of the language in Circuit Court Rule 45 that an action shall not be dismissed at the plaintiff's instance save upon order of the Court and upon such terms and conditions as the Court deems proper. [Emphasis supplied.]