Court Opinion

ID: 9640893
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:17:43.928565+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:33.527798
License: Public Domain

KOEHLER, Justice,
concurring.
I concur with the opinion of Chief Justice Osborn, and prefer to remand the case for a rehearing on the matter of ad litem fees. Judging strictly from the record presented, this is a case that does neither the judge nor the lawyers proud. The evidence given in support of any award of attorney ad litem fees is so vague, imprecise and con*17jectural as to amount to insufficient evidence.
Examples of the testimony of the ad litem on which the court impliedly based its award of $125,000.00 ad litem fees, are as follows:
(direct narrative testimony)
MR. RIDDLE:
I have not brought my ledgers — expense ledgers I need and specific dates, et cetera,....
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I have right at five hundred hours in the handling and preparation strategy of all of the time spent in this case.
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I don’t know the precise amount of out-of-pocket expenses that I have. I can probably get that. Sometimes I just paid out of my pocket and did not get a receipt or keep a receipt. I would say that my out of my pocket expenses have not been expensive but I’m going to say in the neighborhood of $10,000. (cross-examination)
Q. Was the time and the services that you have described for the Court in your testimony primarily rendered in Cause No. 85-46145, that is the cause against all of the defendants, including Culver Concrete and Reginald Davis?
A. I would say so.
Q. And your best recollection or estimate for the Court is that you have expended some five hundred hours?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you have any documentation for the Court as to those hours and how and when they were expended?
A. No.
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Q. Give me an idea of the five hundred hours that you have expended in this case, how many of those hours do you believe are attributable to Brown & Root as opposed to the other two defendants, Culver Concrete and Reginald Davis?
A. I can’t.
The ad litem himself did not testify as to a reasonable hourly rate or the total amount he believed to be reasonable for his services, there appearing only an oblique reference by Appellant’s counsel to the request of the ad litem for a $200,000.00 fee.
In my opinion, this is the kind of case that gives lawyers and judges a bad image as far as the public is concerned.