Opinion ID: 772483
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Nature of the Fee Arrangement

Text: 46 Defendants next present two related arguments. First, they argue the district court erred in refusing to submit their position that G&S represented them on a contingency fee basis to the jury. Second, they argue that there was insufficient evidence that they entered into an oral agreement to pay G&S's hourly fees, and that the district court thus erred in allowing the jury to decide whether an oral agreement existed. 47 We find no error in the district court's determinations. Regarding the alleged contingency fee arrangement, Robert Erkins retracted his testimony that he and Vihon agreed upon a percentage of the recovery that G&S would receive, and defendants offered no other evidence of this term. While Idaho courts 8 may supply a missing contract term, they will only do so if there is a reasonably certain basis for supplying the term. Anderson & Nafziger v. G.T. Newcomb, Inc., 595 P.2d 709, 714-15 (Idaho 1979). Here, defendants suggest that the district court should have supplied a customary contingency percentage such as 33%. We agree with the district court that reference to custom is unavailing because the circumstances of this case are far removed from the typical situation in which a contingency fee arises. One such circumstance distinguishing this case from the typical contingency case is that merely defeating the bank's claim, without recovering on the counterclaim, would have been a favorable outcome for the Erkins but would not have resulted in any monetary recovery. 48 Regarding whether the district court properly submitted, to the jury, the question of whether the Erkins entered into an oral contract to pay G&S on an hourly basis, we agree that this was properly a question for the jury. McCabe's testimony that there was an oral contract to pay hourly fees, coupled with the documents which referenced such a contract, was sufficient. Additionally, the jury could have considered whether this case was so far removed from the typical case in which a contingency agreement is present as evidence that the relationship between the parties was actually predicated upon an oral contract to pay hourly fees.