Opinion ID: 2595464
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Seventy-five percent enhancement

Text: The superior court enhanced the attorney's fee awards to Bourque and the Bartelses to seventy-five percent of actual fees incurred. In its order, the superior court did not explicitly find that Cole's conduct during the litigation was vexatious or in bad faith. [24] Cole claims that this enhancement constitutes an award of substantially full attorney's fees and is not justified in the absence of bad faith or vexatious conduct. Cole relies primarily on Marathon Oil Co. v. ARCO Alaska, Inc. [25] In that case, the trial court awarded eighty percent of attorney's fees under Rule 82(b)(3) based on the fundamental unreasonableness of Marathon's position. [26] Because we disagreed with this assessment and concluded that Marathon had raised a legitimate issue, we reversed the award. [27] We also reiterated the rule that an award of substantially `full attorney's fees is manifestly unreasonable in the absence of bad faith or vexatious conduct by the non-prevailing party.' [28] Under this rule we have required vexatious or bad faith conduct to warrant ninety percent [29] or full [30] attorney's fees awards. Here, ample evidence supports the trial court's determination that Cole's position was unreasonable. Moreover, a seventy-five percent fee award does not constitute a substantially full award and thus does not require vexatious or bad faith conduct. For these reasons, we affirm the superior court's seventy-five percent enhanced fee awards to Bourque and the Bartelses.