Opinion ID: 887273
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: issues

Text: ¶ 20 Whether Schmill's attorneys are precluded from requesting common fund fees because they did not request them in their initial pleadings. ¶ 21 Before we move on to the issue of whether Schmill I created a common fund, we must decide whether Schmill's attorneys properly requested common fund attorney fees. At the beginning of this entire proceeding, Schmill's attorneys did not plead for common fund attorney fees. Instead, her attorneys merely pled for statutory attorney fees. It was only after our decision in Schmill I that Schmill's attorneys prayed for common fund attorney fees. Liberty and the State Fund argue that the WCC erred in awarding common fund attorney fees because it does not have jurisdiction to do so. In addition, Liberty and the State Fund contend that Schmill's attorneys' failure to plead common fund attorney fees in their initial petition estops them from seeking such fees on remand and violates due process. ¶ 22 On the jurisdiction issue, Liberty asserts that the WCC can only award penalties and assessments allowed against an insurer under chapter 71.... Section 39-71-2905, MCA. Since common fund attorney fees are not included in Chapter 71, continues Liberty, the WCC cannot award them. However, the WCC itself correctly noted that common fund attorney fees are not assessed against an insurer but against claimants. See Schmill v. Liberty Nw. Ins. Corp., 2004 MTWCC 47, ¶ 7 (citing Murer v. State Comp. Mut. Ins. Fund (1997), 283 Mont. 210, 222-23, 942 P.2d 69, 76-77). We have previously stated that § 39-71-2905, MCA, grants the WCC broad jurisdictional powers including the payment of attorney's fees and related costs. Kelleher Law Office v. State Comp. Ins. Fund (1984), 213 Mont. 412, 415, 691 P.2d 823, 825. Therefore, we conclude that the WCC had jurisdiction to award common fund attorney fees. ¶ 23 As for the contentions of Liberty and the State Fund that Schmill's attorneys should have pled for common fund attorney fees in their initial petition, they ignore the fact that a common fund does not arise until after the initial round of litigation. The timing is similar to that in Kunst v. Pass, 1998 MT 71, ¶ 38, 288 Mont. 264, ¶ 38, 957 P.2d 1, ¶ 38. In Kunst, the relevant statute allowed for an award of attorney fees to a `prevailing party.' Kunst, ¶ 38 (quoting § 70-24-442(2), MCA). The prevailing plaintiffs did not request attorney fees until after the trial court granted them a directed verdict. We held that because the plaintiffs did not become a prevailing party until after the directed verdict [i]t was thus entirely proper and necessary for Plaintiffs to wait until after the court had granted them a directed verdict to file a motion for attorney's fees. Kunst, ¶ 38. In this case, the common fund did not arise until after we issued Schmill I. Therefore, it was proper for Schmill's attorneys to wait until post-remand proceedings to request common fund attorney fees. Furthermore, again, because the common fund did not arise until after we issued Schmill I, Schmill's attorneys are not now estopped from requesting common fund attorney fees and there is no due process violation. Since Schmill's attorneys properly requested common fund attorney fees, we can reach the issue of whether Schmill I created a common fund.