Opinion ID: 2633467
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Is Bruce Bedke Entitled to an Award of Attorney Fees on Appeal?

Text: Bruce Bedke requests an award of attorney fees on appeal pursuant to Idaho Code § 12-120(3). Because we are vacating a portion of the judgment and remanding this case for further findings of fact, there is not yet a prevailing party. In that situation we would ordinarily permit the trial court to award attorney fees for the appeal, if it determined on remand that Bedke was the prevailing party. Lexington Heights Dev., LLC v. Crandlemire, 140 Idaho 276, 92 P.3d 526 (2004). In order to do so, however, we must first determine that Idaho Code § 12-120(3) provides for the award of attorney fees in this case. Attorney fees are not appropriate under Idaho Code § 12-120(3) unless the commercial transaction is integral to the claim and constitutes the basis upon which the party is seeking recovery. C & G, Inc. v. Rule, 135 Idaho 763, 25 P.3d 76 (2001). Bruce Bedke argues that the gravamen of this lawsuit is the parties' rights under the Pooling Agreement, which was a commercial transaction. The central issues in this case were: (a) whether the Pooling Agreement granted an easement to Bruce Bedke or some lesser right; (b) if it granted an easement, whether Bruce Bedke had by his conduct abandoned or lost the right to use the easement, or whether it had expired; and (c) if it granted an easement, the width and location of the easement. In C & G, Inc. v. Rule, 135 Idaho at 769, 25 P.3d at 82, we addressed the issue of whether a dispute as to whether a document constituted a conveyance of property or the grant of an easement constituted a commercial transaction under Idaho Code § 12-120(3). We held that it did not. The present action is primarily a dispute over whether the properties in question were conveyed in fee simple or as easements. As such, this case does not fall within the meaning of a commercial transaction as defined in I.C. § 12-120(3). The present situation is instead more analogous to situations involving the determination of property rights where this Court and the Court of Appeals have uniformly denied an award of attorney fees. Of the cases in which we have dealt with whether a commercial transaction is integral to the claim and constitutes the basis upon which the party is attempting to recover, C & G, Inc. v. Rule is the one most analogous to this case. We therefore hold that Idaho Code § 12-120(3) does not provide a basis for awarding attorney fees in this case.