Opinion ID: 1360358
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Attorney's Fees for Previous Litigation.

Text: As additional damages arising from the Authority's trespass, appellant asks for a reasonable sum representing attorney's fees for previous litigation. The trial court denied recovery. The previous litigation involved the Authority's complaint in condemnation and its declaration of taking which were filed in the former Territorial district court on June 9, 1958. Appellant retained counsel to represent her, and he promptly moved to dismiss the action and to strike the declaration of taking. The motion was denied by the district judge on August 23, 1958, and he ordered appellant to give possession of her property to the Authority not later than October 2, 1958. A motion to set aside the order granting possession was denied February 10, 1959. On March 30, 1959, the district court issued the Authority a writ of assistance in aid of the previous order granting possession. Counsel for appellant moved to quash the writ. The court denied the motion on April 28, 1959, but in doing so made a certification which authorized the federal court of appeals to permit an appeal to be taken from the district court's interlocutory order. [9] Thereafter, appellant requested the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for leave to appeal from the order denying her motion to quash the writ of assistance, and at the same time obtained from the district court a stay of the writ pending decision by the appellate court. On May 7, 1959, the Court of Appeals denied the application to appeal, and the district court then ordered that appellant's motion for a further stay of writ of assistance be denied. On June 2, 1959, the Court of Appeals granted leave to file a petition for a writ of prohibition, and pending determination of that petition, stayed all further proceedings in the district court. On August 18, 1959, the appellate court denied the petition for a writ of prohibition on the basis of lack of jurisdiction, and vacated the stay previously granted. [10] On October 6, 1959, it denied appellant's petition for rehearing and her request that the court certify to the United States Supreme Court the question of appellate jurisdiction. A petition for a writ of certiorari was filed with the United States Supreme Court in December 1959, and this was denied on February 23, 1960. [11] On October 5, 1959, the day prior to the last action by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, we promulgated the rules of this court and assumed our appellate jurisdiction. On November 18, 1959, appellant filed with this court a petition seeking review of the actions of the territorial district court. We granted the petition and sustained the contention that had been advanced and urged by appellant throughout this controversy by holding that the Authority did not have the power to use a declaration of taking. [12] Again the matter was brought before us by appellant in April 1960, and we again sustained her position and ordered that the condemnation action be dismissed. [13] This extensive history of the previous action is noted for the purpose of indicating the protracted nature of the litigation, the substantial questions that were involved, and the considerable amount of time and effort required of appellant's counsel in representing her interests. The value of his services is no small item of expense that was incurred by appellant in ultimately vindicating her rights. Experienced Alaska counsel who were called as witnesses by the appellant testified that the value of the legal services rendered was between $14,000 and $15,000. We believe the trial court was mistaken in failing to make an allowance for this item of claimed damages. This was an expense incurred by appellant out of reasonable necessity in an effort to seek protection against a wrongful invasion of her property rights. It was a compensable loss sustained by her as a direct result of the Authority's unlawful trespass. To not permit recovery of compensation for this loss would tend to constrain a property owner to stand idly by while his property was being destroyed, and to encourage a wrongdoer to encroach upon and invade another's property rights with impunity. The case will be remanded with directions to the trial court to realistically assess fair attorney's fees for each of the proceedings in the previous litigation mentioned in this opinion, making allowance for the one fee of $600 awarded by this court in the case of Bridges v. Alaska Housing Authority, File No. 16, 349 P.2d 149 (Alaska 1959).