Court Opinion

ID: 9836047
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-02 02:54:11.608635+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:45:12.091719
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE J. JONES,
concurring in part and dissenting in part,
I concur in the Court’s opinion, except for the award of attorney fees on appeal to Northern Title. I dissent from the fee award on the same grounds set out in my separate opinion in Cummings v. Stephens, 157 Idaho 348, 368-69, 336 P.3d 281, 301-02 (2014) (Cummings I). In Cummings I, I read the escrow agreement as waiving any claim for attorney fees against Cummings where the fees resulted from gross negligence on the part of Northern Title. I opined that Northern Title was, indeed, grossly negligent in handling the transaction. However, I agree with the Court in this appeal that Cummings has failed to present a meritorious challenge to the district court’s handling of attorney fee issues on remand. Cummings did not chal*854lenge the district court’s fee award based on the language of the escrow agreement.