Opinion ID: 2329273
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: District Court's Denial of Attorneys' Fees Incurred on Appeal

Text: ¶ 29 Turning to the second issue in this appeal, we consider whether the district court erred by applying the Colorado Appellate Rules to deny Flood's request, in an appeal from the county court to the district court, for the attorneys' fees and costs she incurred in that appeal. In the third appeal at the district court, Flood filed a motion separate from her answer brief requesting her attorneys' fees and costs incurred in defending against the third appeal in the event that she was the prevailing party. Although she prevailed, the district court denied Flood's request for fees and costs based on Colorado Appellate Rules 28(b) and 39.5, which require an appellee to make her request for attorneys' fees in her answer brief rather than by separate motion. ¶ 30 This court retains authority to promulgate and interpret court procedural rules. See Colo. Const. art. VI § 21; see Borer v. Lewis, 91 P.3d 375, 380 (Colo.2004). Interpreting these procedural rules and statutes raises a question of law, which we review de novo. See Dubois v. People, 211 P.3d 41, 43 (Colo.2009). To construe procedural rules, we employ the same interpretive rules applicable to statutory construction. See People v. Fuqua, 764 P.2d 56, 58 (Colo. 1988). We first look to the language of the rule itself, and if the rule is plain and unambiguous, then we apply the rule as written. Id. at 59. ¶ 31 The Colorado Appellate Rules state that they apply to appeals to either the supreme court or the court of appeals. C.A.R. ch. 32, Applicability of Rules ¶ 2; see People v. Zhuk, 239 P.3d 437, 439 (Colo.2010) (holding that C.A.R. 4.1 was inapplicable on its face to an appeal from a county court to a district court). On the other hand, the procedural rules applied in appeals from the county court to the district court are set forth in sections 13-6-310 and 13-6-311, C.R.S. (2011), as well as in Rule 411 of the Colorado Rules of County Court Civil Procedure. MAB argues that the silence of the relevant provisions of these rules on how requests for attorneys' fees and costs should occur indicates that the Colorado Appellate Rules should apply. However, other subsections of these very same rules state explicitly when the Colorado Appellate Rules do apply. For example, section 13-6-311(5) provides that after final disposition of the appeal by the district court the case is returned to the county court, unless review by the supreme court occurs upon writ of certiorari pursuant to the rules of the supreme court. Section 13-6-310(4) states that an appeal to the supreme court from the district court is pursuant to such rules as [the supreme court] may promulgate. (Emphasis added.) Similarly, the rule of criminal procedure that governs interlocutory appeals from the county court to the district court in criminal cases explicitly directs the court to look to the Colorado Appellate Rules for guidance if no procedure is specifically prescribed in 37.1. Crim. P. 37.1(g); see also Zhuk, 239 P.3d at 440 (applying C.A.R. 26(a) because Crim. P. 37.1(g) directs courts to look to the appellate rules when a procedure is not specifically provided for in Crim. P. 37.1). Hence, if the Colorado Appellate Rules were intended to apply in this situation, then the pertinent provisions of the county court rules would expressly refer to the appellate rules, just as sections 13-6-311(5), 13-6-310(4), and Crim. P. 37.1, do. ¶ 32 Because the relevant provisions of the rules governing appeals from the county court to the district court do not state that the Colorado Appellate Rules apply in this situation, we conclude that the Colorado Appellate Rules do not apply and that Flood was not required to request attorneys' fees and costs when she filed her answer brief with the district court. Thus, the district court erred by denying Flood's request for appellate attorneys' fees and costs in the third appeal because she did not follow the procedures set forth in C.A.R. 28(b) and 39.5. We therefore reverse this portion of the district court's ruling.