Court Opinion

ID: 9524303
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:51:41.329543+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:09:30.116607
License: Public Domain

FOLEY, Judge
(concurring specially).
I fully concur in the result reached in this case but feel obliged to comment on the extraordinarily high attorney fees already incurred by both parties in this case.
This litigation concerns custody of one child, yet to date the mother has incurred fees of $30,000 and the father $50,000. This represents to the mother about two-thirds her annual income and to the father almost one-half his annual income. With respect to additional fees, this court has sustained the trial court’s refusal to award fees to either party and properly so. These are people with good incomes, yet not exceptional in today’s economy, but the fees charged to each have escalated to an extremely high point. Extraordinarily high fees are occurring in family law cases with some regularity.
When “no-fault” divorce came on the scene, it was the hope that much of the animosity and emotion that filled so many cases before would be avoided. It seems in recent years that the focus has shifted to extensive custody litigation and, in many cases, property division. In strikes me that if restraint is not practiced in the area of family law litigation, the time will come when only the very wealthy will be able to litigate these matters, and yet custody issues are often at the very heart of family law disputes at all social and economic levels.
Here, these litigants could be considered' upper middle class. Yet the briefs reflect that the father was taking out a second mortgage on his home for $40,000 to apply to attorney fees, consultant fees, etc. It seems to me that the $80,000 already spent on attorney fees could have been put to much better use for the child’s benefit.
In all areas of the law, we recognize that an attorney is entitled to reasonable fees for services rendered. See Minn.R.Prof. Conduct 1.5(a). While the adage is true that “the laborer is worthy of his [her] hire,” it is my view that unless some brakes are applied to escalating fees in family law matters, our profession, as well as the procedure, will suffer.
It is incumbent upon attorneys — it is their duty — to dissuade clients from pursuing vexatious and fruitless legal proceedings. They should do all in their power to expedite matters, particularly in custody cases. See Sefkow v. Sefkow, 427 N.W.2d 203 (Minn.1988); see also Minn.R.Prof.Conduct 3.2.
Chief Judge Wozniak of this court, writing for himself and Judges Crippen and Short, has called attention to unnecessary motion practice that can substantially increase fees, protract animosity and make “enormous fees appear somewhat irrational.” See Fastner v. Fastner, 427 N.W.2d *482691, 702 (Minn.Ct.App.1988). The Minnesota Supreme Court has stated that it “is committed to the policy that courts should follow a conservative policy in awarding attorney’s fees.” Borchert v. Borchert, 279 Minn. 16, 21, 154 N.W.2d 902, 906 (1967) (citing Burke v. Burke, 208 Minn. 1, 292 N.W. 426 (1940)). This same policy should be followed by attorneys in privately setting fees. Changes in family law in recent years were never intended to be viewed otherwise but conservative in this area.
I recognize that there are clients who can be most difficult, if not exasperating, in their demands on their attorneys’ time in the field of family law practice, but that is when the attorney must stay in firm control of the case and not permit the client to control the lawsuit. Of all civil litigation, perhaps family law and its consequences, including attorney fees, is the most visible.
Here, the matter of fees already incurred was not the dominant issue on appeal, but nonetheless, when we observe a situation (if not reversed) that could eventually harm the profession and its procedure in this area, we have a duty to speak, however unpopular it may be.