Court Opinion

ID: 9535781
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 06:43:58.554717+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:19.892463
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE VAN DEUSEN, specially concurring: I concur in the result reached in this case. However, while I agree with the majority’s holding that the trial court erred in ordering the respondent to pay petitioner’s prospective attorney fees for defending the appeal, I disagree that the trial court lacks jurisdiction to entertain a petition for attorney fees to defend an appeal after notice of appeal is filed and while the appeal is pending. This court recently considered and rejected the position that the trial court lacks jurisdiction to award attorney fees subsequent to the filing of notice of appeal, reasoning as follows: “[T]o hold that the trial court is deprived of jurisdiction to award attorney’s fees under the Act because a notice of appeal has been filed would be to apply a general principle to a specific situation where it is inapposite. The filing of notice of appeal does not deprive the trial court of jurisdiction in all instances. There are many recognized exceptions to the general principle that the trial court loses jurisdiction upon the filing of a notice of appeal. [Citations.] Plainly, a trial court has jurisdiction to hear matters independent of and distinct from the issues involved in the appeal. The trial court may entertain matters that are purely collateral or supplemental to the appeal [citations], or which arise subsequent to entry of the judgment from which the appeal has been taken and which do not have the effect of interfering with review of the judgment. [Citations.] Accordingly, we must determine whether an award of attorney’s fees to defend an appeal of a matter brought under the Act would have the effect of interfering with review of the judgment from which the appeal has been taken. In this regard, it is readily apparent that an award of attorney’s fees to defend a pending appeal necessarily involves an issue that arises after a notice of appeal is filed, and which therefore could not be embraced in the pending appeal. Thus, the award of attorney’s fees to defend a pending appeal is not affected in any way by the appeal, and it is not dependent in any respect on the outcome of the appeal. Nor does the award of attorney’s fees have the effect of interfering with the pending appeal. Accordingly, an award for attorney’s fees to defend a pending appeal is merely collateral to the appeal and involves a matter independent of any question raised by the appeal. [Citations.] We therefore conclude that under the Act, the trial court has jurisdiction to award attorney’s fees for the defense of pending appeals. (In re Marriage of Giammerino (1981), 94 Ill. App. 3d 1058, 1060-61.) The Giammerino court resolved this question in a well-reasoned and cogent manner. Clearly, the trial court is not foreclosed, by reason of the filing of a notice of appeal, from awarding attorney fees to defend the appeal because the fee award is collateral to and independent of the appeal. I agree with the majority’s opinion that there must be specific statutory authority to allow the trial court to award attorney fees after appellate jurisdiction has attached. The Historical and Practice Notes to section 508 correctly state that explicit statutory authority is required. (Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 40, par. 508, Historical and Practice Notes, at 639 (SmithHurd 1980).) However, while the majority agrees with the authors of the note that section 508(a) of the Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 40, par. 508(a)) does not authorize the trial court to award attorney fees during the pendency of an appeal, I do find such specific and explicit statutory authority in section 508(a). Compare Sherman v. Sherman (1979), 74 Ill. App. 3d 451, 455; Zalduendo v. Zalduendo (1977), 45 Ill. App. 3d 849, 859. From the plain meaning of the words of section 508(a)(3), it is apparent that the trial court is authorized to award, “from time to time,” attorney fees that have been “necessarily incurred” in the defense of an appeal. In In re Marriage of Justema (1981), 95 Ill. App. 3d 483, 488, this court recently held that the legislature by section 508 authorized courts to, from time to time, order payment of attorney fees and costs incurred by a party for services of an attorney which have been rendered. While Justema dealt with the authority of the trial court to award fees for proceedings at the trial level, the legislative grant of authority in the words “at any time” applies equally to trial court fee awards for services rendered in pending appeals. Because the words “from time to time” are clearly applicable, the words “during the pendency of the appeal,” which had appeared in section 15 of the former Divorce Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 40, par. 16), were surplusage and were discarded. With the enactment of section 508(a), it is clearly permissible for a party to make multiple requests for fees or costs at different stages of the proceedings. (Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 40, par. 508, Historical and Practice Notes, at 635 (Smith-Hurd 1980).) Nothing in the Act states that attorney fees may not be awarded during the pendency of an appeal. (In re Marriage of Giammerino (1981), 94 Ill. App. 3d 1058,1060.) The language of this section is clear and unambiguous, and there is no need to engraft upon it, as the majority would, a requirement that the attorney wait until the termination of the appeal before petitioning the trial court for fees under the Act. See Franzese v. Trinko (1977), 66 Ill. 2d 136,139-40.