Opinion ID: 1620754
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did the chancery court err when it failed to exercise exceptional judicial discretion?

Text: ¶ 13. When the chancellor refused to exercise exceptional judicial discretion and award the accounting fees to Allred, the chancellor stated as follows: Here, I think the facts would bear out that both parties for the sake of argument, assuming that this matter had not reached the litigation stage, would have still employed an accountant to determine what their respective positions would be and respective amounts due from and owing to the other. I don't find that the misconduct as cited by the Supreme Court necessitated the hiring of an accountant anymore so then one would have been otherwise. Based upon the language used by the chancellor, he is strictly using hindsight to speculate as to what the parties would have done absent litigation instead of solely relying on the record before him. All evidence in the record points to a conclusion different from that reached by the chancellor. According to the record, in the 20 years that Allred did business with Fairchild, Allred never did his own accounting. Fairchild's office personnel always conducted the accountings and were responsible for maintaining the records on the Windham Properties. Fairchild advised his personnel not to generate and maintain accounting records. Through the custom and practice of the parties, Allred relied upon Fairchild to perform the accounting. Until a dispute arose between the parties, Allred never employed an accountant to determine the status of his financial dealings with Fairchild, primarily because he trusted Fairchild to provide an honest and accurate accounting of funds. The chancellor was manifestly wrong in determining that Allred would have initially hired an accountant absent litigation. The chancery court decision is reversed.