Opinion ID: 2509319
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: In The Absence Of A Timely Certiorari Petition This Court Is Without Cognizance To Address Mother's Counsel-Fee Quest

Text: ¶ 4 One's entitlement to a counsel fee as prevailing party gives a litigant an added element of postjudgment recovery. The victorious party's statutorily authorized fee award creates and enlarges substantive rights in an action. [2] Any fee recovery beyond that which stands expressly granted by COCA (or by the trial court) cannot be enhanced by the Supreme Court without its antecedent assumption of certiorari jurisdiction upon the fee seeker's petition. [3] ¶ 5 The Hough v. Leonard [4] analysis is not invocable to confer here cognizance upon this court without Mother's timely certiorari petition. Hough saves for sua sponte review  one that can be conducted sans certiorari quest  only those issues which, though properly raised and briefed on appeal, were left unaddressed by COCA. [5] Hough does not teach that a certiorari party may, without pressing its own counter-petition, seek to enlarge its rights to any relief not granted by COCA.A certiorari party who brings no counter-petition of its own stands in a posture restricted to defending against loss of relief secured on appeal. [6] ¶ 6 Mother was the vanquished litigant at nisi prius where custody of her child was transferred to the husband. While both parties' district-court paperwork requested a trial-related attorney's fee, [7] neither litigant pressed for this relief either at the end of the there-conducted modification hearings or before COCA's pronouncement. The nisi prius order tendered for review on appeal is entirely silent on the fee issue. Neither did either party press during the appeal for an appeal-related counsel fee. That issue was first raised by Mother's post-appeal motion addressed to COCA. Although Mother may indeed be entitled to an appeal-related counsel fee, in the absence of a timely certiorari petition of her own, this court is without cognizance [8] to grant her relief not won in COCA's opinion. [9] ¶ 7 In short, in the absence of certiorari cognizance conferred by her timely petition, I would not grant here to Mother a recovery beyond that she won from COCA. B.