Opinion ID: 2604705
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The district court improperly denied the Mackintoshes' request for attorney's fees.

Text: At the conclusion of trial, the Mackintoshes moved for an award of attorney's fees based on the fact that their sales contract stated the following: In the event that legal action is instituted by ... any party to this agreement ... arising out of the execution of this agreement or sale, ... the prevailing party shall be entitled to receive from the other party a reasonable attorney fee to be determined by the court in which the action is brought. The district court refused to award attorney's fees, stating that the rescinded contract was void from its date of inception, just as if the contract had never existed. Bergstrom v. Estate of DeVoe, [109 Nev. 575, 854 P.2d 860 (1993)]. As recision has been granted in this case, the contract is null and void. Therefore, Plaintiffs may not recover attorneys fees under the terms of a void contract. We conclude that the district judge's conclusion that attorney's fees were not available pursuant to Bergstrom was erroneous. In Bergstrom, this court concluded that because a rescinded contract was void ab initio, the party who rescinded the contract was precluded from recovering damages for breach because it was as if the contract had never been entered into. Bergstrom, 109 Nev. at 577-78, 854 P.2d at 862. Allowing both recision and damages for breach of contract would constitute double recovery. Id. at 578, 854 P.2d at 862. However, in Bergstrom, we did not address the issue of whether an award of attorney's fees authorized by the contract would be permissible if the contract had been rescinded. In Katz v. Van Der Noord, 546 So.2d 1047 (Fla.1989), the Florida Supreme Court stated: We hold that when parties enter into a contract and litigation later ensues over that contract, attorney's fees may be recovered under a prevailing-party attorney's fee provision contained therein even though the contract is rescinded or held to be unenforceable. The legal fictions which accompany a judgment of rescission do not change the fact that a contract did exist. It would be unjust to preclude the prevailing party to the dispute over the contract which led to its rescission from recovering the very attorney's fees which were contemplated by that contract. Id. at 1049. We agree with this case law. Therefore, we conclude that the district court erred in denying the Mackintoshes' request for attorney's fees, and we remand this case to the district court for reconsideration of this issue consistent with this opinion.