Opinion ID: 2600769
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Should the school board be awarded attorney fees on appeal?

Text: The school board seeks attorney fees on appeal pursuant to Idaho Code § 12-117(1), which provides: Unless otherwise provided by statute, in any administrative or civil judicial proceeding involving as adverse parties a state agency, a city, a county or other taxing district and a person, the court shall award the prevailing party reasonable attorney's fees, witness fees and reasonable expenses, if the court finds that the party against whom the judgment is rendered acted without a reasonable basis in fact or law. The statute authorizes the awarding of attorney fees on appeal, Rural Kootenai Org., Inc. v. Board of Commissioners, 133 Idaho 833, 993 P.2d 596 (2000), and the school district is a taxing district within the meaning of the statute. Rogers v. Gooding Public Joint School Dist. No. 231, 135 Idaho 480, 20 P.3d 16 (2001). The school board is the prevailing party on this appeal. In appealing the judgment of the district court, Daw acted without a reasonable basis in law or in fact. He concedes, [I]t is well established any right to appeal (review) is statutory. His argument that Idaho Code § 1-705 implicitly grants a right to appeal in this case is simply not a reasonable construction of the statute. Therefore, the school board is awarded attorney fees on appeal.