Court Opinion

ID: 9519438
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:16:34.691377+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:22.273252
License: Public Domain

Doctoroff, J.
(concurring in part, and dissenting in part). I concur in the majority’s ruling that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding attorney fees in the amount of $125 an hour.
I dissent from the majority’s ruling that the method used by the trial court in determining the attorney fees necessitated by plaintiff’s rejection of the mediation evaluation was reasonable. I agree that, in actions involving multiple parties, a losing party should not be allowed to avoid mediation sanctions by asserting that the same expenses would have been, incurred by the successful party in defending against the other opposing parties. However, I believe the trial court must consider each party individually and attempt an equitable allocation of the costs and attorney fees. The trial court in this case simply looked at the number of witnesses who testified at trial and, upon finding that plaintiff did not question six of the twenty-five witnesses, determined that plaintiff was accountable for seventy-six percent of the defendants’ attorney fees and costs. Assuming that the nineteen remaining witnesses were necessary or important both to plaintiff’s case and to Auto Owner’s case, I do not believe it is reasonable or equitable to hold plaintiff accountable for one hundred percent of the attorney fees and costs attributable to those witnesses. I recognize that the allocation of attorney fees and costs is not an exact science. However, some attempt should be made to determine which of the costs and fees claimed by the defendants were attributable to plaintiff. I would re*238mand for an evidentiary hearing and redetermination of attorney fees and costs.