Court Opinion

ID: 9764672
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:35:43.179132+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:00.259549
License: Public Domain

Morse, J.,
dissenting. I respectfully dissent. Defendant employer “put all its eggs in one basket” in the superior court by maintaining that $35 per hour for attorneys’ fees, reasonable or *251not, were all that were allowed at any stage of the proceedings. No differentiation was made as to what fees were reasonable in court or reasonable in proceedings before the Commissioner. In short, defendant took a one-or-the-other approach ($35 or $75) for all work at all stages and stipulated that the superior court would award all attorneys fees and expenses. It became the law of the case.
This Court now remands for a hearing before the Commissioner on whether $35 per hour is reasonable for work done before her, an approach not raised in superior court or here. What more was required of the trial court, given the parties’ position, is a mystery.
This Court is indulging here in “practice-makes-perfect” jurisprudence. See also B.B. & J. v. Bedell, 156 Vt. 203, 208, 591 A.2d 50, 53 (1991) (Morse, J., dissenting). Instead of allowing the parties to fashion the issues as they see fit, we second-guess their strategy and give the losing party another chance. I can think of no reason justifying this wasteful and expensive procedure.
I would affirm.