Opinion ID: 1197637
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Litigation expenses and attorney fees.

Text: The trial court found that:    [T]he commencement of these proceedings were for the benefit and enhancement of the trust and therefore plaintiffs shall be entitled to recover their attorney fees, accountancy costs, and litigation expenses,    incurred subsequent to commencement of controversy in September, 1972. The final decree awards to plaintiffs for these purposes the sum of $27,334.15  the full amount requested by them. The trial court also held that: Because the court finds this litigation properly commenced and the trustee at fault, the court is not permitting any such expenses to be charged against the trust and finds the use of trust funds not for the benefit of the trust, but for the benefit of the trustee only, improper. The final decree ordered Leo Gorger to restore to the trust the sum of $6,193.85 withdrawn from it for litigation expenses, together with any other trust funds paid for such expenses. We recognize that the award of attorney fees and litigation expenses in such a case is a matter largely within the discretion of the trial court. We believe, however, that the allowance of such expenses by the trial court in such a case is properly subject to review by this court when, as in this case, it appears that many of plaintiffs' claims against the trustee, as sustained by the trial court, were improper and that much of the conduct of the trustee, as attacked by plaintiffs and disapproved by the trial court, was proper. In this case, in response to demands by plaintiffs, the trial court surcharged the trustee for various items totaling approximately $100,000, in addition to its order that his interest in the Ione ranch be included in the trust; that he pay the balance due on the Tapadera notes, totaling $75,000, and that withheld depreciation of $61,000 be distributed to the trust beneficiaries. If plaintiffs' position on all, or nearly all, of such items had been correct and if the trustee's conduct relating to all, or nearly all, of them had been improper, we might agree that the trust would have benefited to the extent that plaintiffs would be entitled to $27,000 in attorney fees and litigation expenses, as claimed by them, and that the trustee would not be entitled to charge against the trust any of the attorney fees and litigation expenses incurred by him. For reasons previously stated, however, we have held that plaintiffs' position on most of such items was incorrect and the trustee's conduct relating to them was correct. Indeed, instead of recovering approximately $100,000 for the trust from the trustee, as demanded by plaintiffs and as held by the trial court, the recovery from the trustee on the items approved by this court is less than $40,000; plaintiffs' claims relating to the Ione ranch and withheld depreciation were denied, and the Tapadera notes have been paid. We have also held that the trustee's conduct relating to most of the matters complained of by plaintiffs was proper and that Leo Gorger is entitled to credit for interest on money advanced by him to or for the benefit of the trust. We do not overlook the findings of the trial court that on occasion Leo Gorger fail[ed] to disclose information to the beneficiaries and that he treated the trust in a rather cavalier manner. Indeed, we recognize that this suit may have been of some benefit to the beneficiaries of the trust because of the resulting disclosures and accounting. After considering all of the facts and circumstances relating to this long and bitter family controversy as best we can, it is our best judgment that plaintiffs are entitled to payment from the trust of not more than one-half of the attorney fees and litigation expenses incurred by them in the trial court and that defendant Leo Gorger is entitled to payment from the trust of one-half of the attorney fees and litigation expenses incurred by him in the defense of this suit in the trial court. For all of these reasons, this case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. [15]