Opinion ID: 874092
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: The district court's award of attorney fees must be reversed.

Text: The Board appeals the district court's I.C. § 12-117 award of attorney fees to Jasso and the Gorringes. Jasso and the Gorringes also request an award of attorney fees on appeal, pursuant to I.C. § 12-117. This Court's decision in Smith v. Washington County, 150 Idaho 388, 247 P.3d 615 (2010), is dispositive. In Smith, we noted that the plain language of the 2010 legislative amendment to I.C. § 12-117 distinguished administrative proceedings from civil judicial proceedings, and thus empowered agencies to award attorney fees in administrative proceedings while limiting civil court awards of attorney fees to only those proceedings that originated with the filing of a civil complaint. Id. at 391, 247 P.3d at 618. I.C. § 12-117(1) does not allow a court to award attorney fees in an appeal from an administrative decision. Id. Although the district court's decision predated the 2010 amendment, the legislature explicitly provided that the amendment would retroactively apply to all cases filed and pending as of June 1, 2009. This is such a case. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's award of attorney fees and deny Jasso's and the Gorringes' request for attorney fees on appeal.