Opinion ID: 1132505
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Fee Orders in Unreasonable Amounts

Text: The commission found that in the Hock, Nachtmann, and Liscano cases, petitioner assessed attorney's fees which were neither reasonable nor compatible with the available evidence as to the defendants' ability to pay. The masters found that in those cases petitioner did not question the defendants to obtain financial information beyond that submitted in the financial statements, or to ascertain the defendant's financial expectancies within the ensuing six months (see § 987.8, subd. (c)(2) [defining ability to pay], set out in fn. 1, ante. ) In Hock, the defendant submitted a financial statement on which Not was inserted after present employment but it was also indicated that the defendant worked on commission as a memory expert for the Memory Masters Institute. It showed minimal assets. Hock testified he had borrowed the $440 for the cash bail. Petitioner ordered him to pay a total fine of $440, $340 forthwith out of cash bail, and the balance 49 days later. One hundred dollars in attorney fees was ordered paid forthwith out of the bail. Hock testified that at his hearing petitioner did not inquire about the meaning of commission or about any other information on his financial statement, did not inquire about the source of his bail deposit or whether he agreed to its being applied to attorney fees, and said nothing about any right to a hearing on the question of attorney fees. There is no merit in petitioner's argument that the ambiguous financial statement plus the fact Hock seemed able to afford bail was sufficient to support the fee order. In Nachtmann, on August 8, 1979, the defendant was ordered to pay a fine of $130 by October 10, and an attorney fee of $50 by September 12. The court file contains no financial statement, though Nachtmann testified he gave the public defender a form dealing with finances. He testified that petitioner asked him no questions about his employment, income, expenses, or debts, or about his financial statement. He testified he was unemployed at the time. Petitioner testified he did not recall the Nachtmann hearing, but that he would have had to have asked Nachtmann about his employment. The Liscano docket sheet shows that on January 21, 1980, Liscano was (1) fined $350, payable $175 by February 29 and $175 by April 14, and (2) ordered to pay an attorney fee of $100 by February 22. His financial statement indicates he was unemployed and had last worked in 1975. He was represented in the case by Deputy Public Defender Jason, who testified as follows: Jason told petitioner that the defendant was not only indigent but borderline mentally retarded, and so pretty much unable to obtain employment. Petitioner inquired into the defendant's property and employment prospects; the defendant said he had no immediate prospects. The defendant also told petitioner he was doing volunteer work at the Center for Developmentally Disabled, as part of his rehabilitation therapy. Petitioner testified that at the hearing the defendant said he was unemployed and not seeking employment because he was doing volunteer service; that he was not disabled and was expecting to find employment; and that he was living with his parents. It seems clear from all this evidence that the defendant had no reasonable prospects of obtaining employment within the ensuing six months. (See § 987.8, subd. (c)(2)(ii), set out at fn. 1, ante. ) (14) We find that in Hock, Nachtmann, and Liscano, petitioner assessed attorney fees that were unreasonable in light of the evidence available to petitioner as to the defendants' ability to pay. We concur in the conclusions of the commission and the masters that those acts were conduct prejudicial.