Court Opinion

ID: 9687466
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:29:03.544196+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:07:28.853409
License: Public Domain

Adams, J.
(concurring). I agree with Justice Kelly that the statutory limitation of an attorney fee not exceeding $25 is controlling and that attorney fees are not a part of just compensation, to be fixed by the Court under article 10, § 2, Michigan Constitution of 1963, for the taking of private property for public use.
At the present time the allowance of costs, including attorney fees, is dealt with by a hodgepodge of statutory provisions that follow no pattern and that, when viewed as a whole, are completely unjust.
Contrast, for example, the result in this case with the result in In re Kent County Airport, 368 Mich 678, wherein it was determined that the defendants were entitled to attorney fees and secretarial services of $2,721.14.1 In Kent, the contest centered around the question of public necessity. Defendants *472contested the issue of public necessity. The county discontinued proceedings before that issue was determined. Under the controlling statutory provision (CL 1948, § 213.38 [Stat Ann 1958 Rev § 8.28]), an attorney’s fee and actual expenses could be awarded in the discretion of the court.
Establishing that there is no necessity for a condemnation or establishing what the just compensation should be (necessity being perforce conceded) provokes a judicial proceeding not because of the acts of the defendant but because in the one case the condemnation was instituted without the requisite authority and, in the other, because of failure to offer just compensation. In either case, an attorney fee for services ought to be allowable, in the discretion of the trial judge and subject to appellate review. In both situations, the disconsolate and hapless defendant finds himself involved in litigation with attorney fees and other expenses forced upon him.
It may be further observed that the hopelessly inconsistent situation with regard to costs and attorney fees in eminent domain cases exists in virtually every other field of the law. In equitable proceedings, whether to award costs to the prevailing party may be left to the discretion of the chancellor but this is not necessarily the case. See Merkel v. Long, 375 Mich 214.
It is not unusual to find that the costs in proceedings in municipal courts, fixed by municipal ordinance, are considerably in excess of the same items in similar proceedings in circuit courts.
While generally costs in legal actions between living litigants are quite restricted, a contrary situation exists with regard to decedents’ estates. CL 1948, §708.4 [Stat Ann 1962 Rev § 27.3178(414)]. Cf. In re Ford’s Estate, 339 Mich 339. Probate judges *473are allowed the greatest discretion in awarding attorney fees for services rendered to executors and administrators. CL 1948, § 704.34 [Stat Ann 1962 Rev § 27.3178(285)].
Costs may be assessed against a defendant in a criminal proceeding but a defendant may not recover his costs upon acquittal or even after a confession of error by the prosecuting attorney or by the attorney general. See People v. Miles, 376 Mich 165. On the other hand, courts are allowed great latitude in the imposition of costs if probation is granted in a criminal proceeding. CL 1948, § 771.3, as amended (Stat Ann 1965 Cum Supp §28.1133). The judge may determine them precisely or they may be little more than a “guesstimate.” Costs may include direct and indirect expenses of apprehension, psychiatric and psychological tests, room and board in the county jail, expenses incurred in conducting investigations, jury costs, probationary oversight, and fees of court-appointed counsel, to mention only a few of the possible items lumped into a single figure. The defendant who is able to pay a substantial sum by way of costs, in effect, may be able to buy his freedom while the impecunious defendant remains confined to jail. While it is true that the imposition of excessive costs may be reviewed, the only such case — People v. Teasdale, 335 Mich 1,— involved 14 defendants whose costs totaled $45,500 and ranged from $1,000 to $7,500 as a condition of probation.
A complete revision and overhaul of the amount and power to assess costs and attorney fees in all Michigan courts is overdue. The remedy is for the legislature to place responsibility for costs and attorney fees with this Court by amending section 2401 of the revised judicature act (CLS 1961, § 600.2401 [Stat Ann 1962 Rev § 27A.2401]) to read:
*474“The supreme court shall adopt rules for the taxation or imposition of costs and the allowance of attorney fees; When costs are taxed or imposed and when attorney fees are allowed in any action or proceeding in a court of record, the items and amounts thereof shall be governed by the rules of the supreme court and shall be subject to its regulation.” •
The deletion of legislative authority from the above section, would permit a uniform approach under court rules and.would eliminate the piecemeal handling of the problem by the legislature which is illustrated by this case.2
Kelly, Black, T. M. Kavanagh, and O’Hara, JJ., concurred with Adams, J.

 It may be noted that the minimum fee schedule of the Ingham county bar association, a typical county fee schedule, provides for attorney fees of $25 per hour for services up to trial and $200 per day for trial.

 For the most recent example, see PA 1967, No 278.