Opinion ID: 2637250
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Lodestar fee. [27]

Text: ¶ 20 We now turn to the issue of the attorney fees to be awarded. As noted Spencer sought $8,775.57 in attorney fees before the trial court. OG & E argued that no attorney fees should be awarded. In the alternative, it asserted that the requested amount be reduced by $3,450.00 for discrepancies between its draft statement and the reconstructed statement necessitated by a computer crash. The electric company also contended that Spencer's attorney should not be allowed to bill for $840.00 resulting from his negligence in the necessity of the filing of a motion to vacate after missing a disposition docket. Had the trial court accepted the figures OG & E proffered, the net amount of attorney fees award would have been $4,487.37. ¶ 21 The time expended by Spencer's attorney, 47.68 hours, is less than half of the 125 hours counsel for OG & E admits were put into the cause. The only evidence presented by Spencer on the hourly rate charged was the testimony of her attorney that he charged hourly rates of $180.00 for out of court time and $250.00 per hour for court appearances. The electric company presented a 2002 Oklahoma Bar Association Survey report urging the trial court to rely on the mean average of $138.55 for non-metro attorneys. However, when the report is examined, it is apparent that 40.48 percent of non-metro attorneys surveyed charge between $126 and $150 per hour. [28] ¶ 22 Under the facts presented, it appears that a reasonable calculation for a lodestar fee is 47.68 hours at the rate of $150.00 for a total of $7,152.00. Nevertheless, we also agree that it would be egregious to require either the attorney's client or OG & E to bear the burden of paying for the attorney's mistake in failing to appear for the disposition docket. Therefore, 4.65 hours times the hourly rate of $150 for a total of $697.50 shall be deducted from the lodestar fee. [29] Having so done, we determine that a base fee of $6,454.50 should be awarded to Spencer and assessed as costs against OG & E. ¶ 23 The lodestar fee, which exceeds Spencer's award by $1,454.50, is not unreasonable when compared to the $5,000.00 confessed judgment. The attorney fees awarded are thirty percent more than the award. While we are committed to the rule that a fee for legal services must bear some reasonable relationship to the judgment, we have never identified a percentage above which a fee's relationship to the damage award must be deemed unreasonable per se. [30] ¶ 24 In Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. v. Parker Pest Control, Inc., 1987 OK 16, ¶ 17, 737 P.2d 1186, we approved a $3,000 fee award for a suit in which the plaintiff sought $3,867 and the defendant confessed judgment for $1,500. In Arkoma Gas Co. v. Otis Engineering Corp., 1993 OK 27, ¶ 6, 849 P.2d 392, we affirmed a fee award of $5,500 in a breach of warranty case in which the plaintiff sued for more than $70,000 and ultimately recovered only $100. [31] Clearly, the allowance awarded in the instant case is within the range of fees in relation to damages previously approved by this Court.