Opinion ID: 1161032
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: attorney fees in the trial court

Text: I concur in remanding the case to the trial court for a review and allocation of the recoverable fees for services in the trial court and make the following observations. It is not clear to me that the trial court intended that the full award of $42,420.02 for attorney fees was to be against Paul as well as his son, Jim. If that was intended, it was error as the majority concludes. Paul did not bring this action; he defended himself against the claims of Fitzgerald and the Julanders. Some of those claims were denied. No fees in defending against Jim's claims or in pursuing claims against Jim are allowable against Paul. Fees incurred before Paul was made a party and fees incurred on behalf of Fairview C Bar Ranch are not allowable against him. While Paul may have in some instances acted as agent for Jim, the opposite is not true: Jim was not the agent of Paul, and therefore, Paul is not responsible for Jim's conduct. The trial court will need to sort out the time spent by the attorney for the Fitzgerald parties and properly allocate his fees to either Jim or Paul or to both jointly.