Opinion ID: 6492886
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: Petitioner/Court-Appointed Counsel-Appellant David Bettencourt (“Bettencourt”) appeals from the order of the Circuit Court of the First Circuit’s administrative judge summarily reducing excess court-appointed attorney’s fees certified by the trial judge as necessary to provide fair compensation. We have accepted Bettencourt’s appeal as a discretionary transfer under Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 602-58(b)(l) (1993 & Supp. 2010), as this ease presents a question of first impression regarding the scope of the administrative judge’s authority under HRS § 802-5(b) (1993 & Supp.2010). 1 We hold that, under HRS § 802-5(b), both the trial judge and the administrative judge independently review excess fee requests to determine whether a fee award is “fair compensation.” Both the trial judge’s and administrative judge’s orders awarding fees under HRS § 802-5(b) are judicial acts subject to appellate review under the abuse of discretion standard. In this case, because the administrative judge summarily reduced Bet-tencourt’s attorney’s fees with no reasons given, we cannot determine whether the administrative judge abused his discretion in ordering reduced fees. Therefore, we vacate the administrative judge’s June 9, 2010 Order and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.