Opinion ID: 1428339
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: litster's requests for attorney fees on appeal are denied.

Text: Litster requests an award of attorney fees on appeal pursuant to I.C. §§ 12-120(3) and 12-121. Section 12-120(3) provides for an award of attorney fees to the prevailing party in a civil action to recover on any commercial transaction. The term commercial transaction, as defined by I.C. § 12-120(3), includes all transactions except transactions for personal or household purposes. Litster relies on Griggs v. Nash, 116 Idaho 228, 775 P.2d 120 (1989), to support his argument that an award of attorney fees in a legal malpractice action is proper under I.C. § 12-120(3) because a contract for attorney services involves a commercial transaction. However, in Fuller v. Wolters, 119 Idaho 415, 807 P.2d 633 (1991), this Court clarified its holding in Griggs and decided that an action for legal malpractice is a tort action, and even though the underlying transaction which resulted in the malpractice was a `commercial transaction,' attorney fees under 12-120(3) are not authorized. Id. at 425, 807 P.2d at 643. The Fuller court distinguished the decision in Griggs by pointing out that neither party in Griggs had asserted that a malpractice action was basically a tort rather than a commercial transaction. Id. The Court in Fuller agreed with the trial court's statement that under our present statute, `tort actions are essentially actions in which the parties bear their own attorney's fees, regardless of [who] prevail[ed].' Id. The Fuller rule has been continuously applied to reject claims for attorney fee awards in legal malpractice actions. See Smith v. David S. Shurtleff & Assoc., 124 Idaho 239, 858 P.2d 778 (Ct.App. 1993). Under section 12-121, an award of attorney fees on appeal is appropriate only if this Court is left with the abiding belief that the appeal was brought or pursued frivolously, unreasonably, and without foundation. See Anson v. Les Bois Race Track, Inc., 130 Idaho 303, 305, 939 P.2d 1382, 1384 (1997). Where an appeal turns on questions of law, an award of attorney fees under this section is proper if the law is well settled and the appellant has made no substantial showing that the district court misapplied the law. Andrews v. Idaho Forest Indus., Inc., 117 Idaho 195, 198, 786 P.2d 586, 589 (Ct.App. 1990). The Court does not believe this appeal was frivolously pursued. Although Fairway is instructive with respect to when the statute of limitations begins to run for a legal malpractice action, Fairway did not address the specific question raised in this appeal, which is, at what point is there objective proof that an individual has suffered some actual damage following a jury trial? Because this specific question has not been addressed by this Court, Litster's request for an award of attorney fees under section 12-121 is denied.