Opinion ID: 1583910
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Attorney Fee and Sanction Claims.

Text: A-1 claims on appeal the district court should have granted A-1 an award of common-law attorney fees. A-1 does not appeal the district court's denial of its application for fees and sanctions under IRCP 1.413(1). The Treasurer claims on appeal the district court abused its discretion by not holding an evidentiary hearing to determine the propriety of awarding attorney fees and sanctions against A-1. A-1's claim for common-law attorney fees on appeal was not addressed in the district court's summary judgment order, and A-1 failed to bring this issue to the district court's attention thereafter. As a result, we hold A-1 did not preserve this issue for appeal. See Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.904(2); Meier v. Senecaut III, 641 N.W.2d 532, 537 (Iowa 2002) (When a district court fails to rule on an issue properly raised by a party, the party who raised the issue must file a motion requesting a ruling in order to preserve error for appeal.). The Treasurer responded to the district court's summary judgment order with an IRCP 1.904(2) motion and a subsequent Request to Set Evidentiary Hearing on Cross Applications for Rule 1.413(1) Relief. Even assuming this was sufficient to preserve error, the Treasurer later abandoned his argument for an evidentiary hearing. Moreover, we do not believe the district court abused its discretion when it determined all claims for attorney fees and sanctions were moot, thereby denying the Treasurer's request for an evidentiary hearing. The Treasurer originally requested the court to deny A-1's application for fees and sanctions. In the alternative, the Treasurer requested the court to enter an order striking A-1's application for fees, and thereafter consider, on its own initiative, holding an evidentiary hearing to award the Treasurer fees and sanctions. This remained the Treasurer's argument throughout the course of the proceedings, as he never made a formal application for fees or sanctions under IRCP 1.413(1). Therefore, when the court denied A-1's application for fees and sanctions the Treasurer received what he requested, and his alternate request for an evidentiary hearing was, in fact, moot. Moreover, the Treasurer abandoned any request for an evidentiary hearing in his application for order nunc pro tunc by asking the court to decline the invitation to enter sanctions and fees on its own initiative. We are satisfied the record reveals the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying the Treasurer an evidentiary hearing.