Court Opinion

ID: 9719711
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:01:04.488854+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:09.383755
License: Public Domain

Yeager, J.,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion in this case. In doing so I want to point out that I find no fault with any of the legal propositions, as such, announced in the opinion. Furthermore, I find no fault with the determination upon the true and only issue presented by the appeal to this court. My complaint is that the court by majority opinion, after making a proper determination upon the only issue presented, goes ahead and makes determinations upon matters not presented by the appealing party and not presented by anything partaking of the character of a cross-appeal. In truth the appealing party aptly points out by his brief that the power to do what was done in these respects, which incidentally was favorable to him, did not exist.
To present in proper perspective the things which are involved it is pointed out that Robert G. Simmons, Jr., was attorney for the plaintiff. John A. Bottorf was attorney for one of the defendants. The action in the district court was for partition of real estate. The original petition contained certain inaccuracies. In the light of this Bottorf, on behalf of one of the defendants, filed an answer. On the basis of the inaccuracies pointed out by the answer the petition was amended and the *260proceeding went through its various steps and the partition was finally concluded.
Thereafter, in an attempted compliance with the provisions of section 25-21,108, R. R. S. 1943, the district court awarded as a fee for the attorneys in the case $1,000. This was apportioned $875 to Simmons and $125 to Bottorf. This statutory provision is as follows:
“If, in the proceedings in partition, judgment shall be entered directing partition, as provided in section 25-2179, the court shall, after partition or after the confirmation of the sale and the conveyance by the referee, determine a reasonable amount of fees to be awarded to the attorneys of record in the proceedings, which amount shall be taxed as costs in the proceedings. If. the shares confirmed by such judgment and the existence of all encumbrances of which the plaintiff had actual or constructive notice were accurately pleaded in the original petition of the plaintiff, such fees for the attorney shall be awarded entirely to the attorney for the plaintiff; otherwise, the court shall order such fees for the attorneys to be divided among such of the attorneys of record in the proceedings as shall have filed pleadings upon which any of the findings in the judgment of partition are based. The court shall also determine and tax as costs a reasonable fee for the referee.”
From the apportionment Bottorf perfected the appeal herein. His right to do so is not questioned.
The theory of the appealing party is that under the terms of the statutory provision quoted he was entitled to one-half of the total amount allowed by the district court. The court by the majority opinion concludes otherwise and with that conclusion I fully agree. The conclusion depends upon the theory that the statute contemplates that the apportionment is a matter of discretion to be exercised by the' district court.
That is where, I submit, the decision of this court should have stopped, the effect of which would have *261been to affirm the apportionment made by. the district court. Instead, this court, without any basis therefor, proceeded to, and did, determine that the district court abused its discretion in making the apportionment. In furtherance of this it set aside the apportionment and substituted $650 for Simmons and $350 for Bottorf.
It has been asserted herein that the appealing party has asked nothing on the appeal on account of abuse of discretion. This I repeat. It is true that he asserts in his assignments of error “That such Decree is contrary to the evidence,” and he re-asserts this in his argument but he asks only that he be awarded one-half of the total allowance.
Even if it be assumed that this court had presented to it the question of whether or not the district court had abused its discretion in the apportionment of the fee, still the adjudication of this court may not be said to be sustained by the record.
It is axiomatic that basic in the allowance of attorney’s fees is service performed, and that the major elements to be considered are amount, character, and quality. It is of course true that no fair and full appraisal in these areas may be made in the absence of full knowledge of the facts. A sound discretion may not be exercised in the absence of a knowledge of the facts. A necessary corollary is that on review unless there is a knowledge of the facts a reviewing court is without any basis for a determination that discretion has been abused.
Another axiomatic rule is that in a case where a reviewing court is asked to review the discretionary action of a trial court and there is no record which discloses an abuse, the presumption obtains that there was no abuse, by which presumption the reviewing court is bound.
In this case there is no record which discloses in any real measure or sense the amount, character, and quality of service performed by these two attorneys. *262All that this court has before it is that which is disclosed by the transcript prepared by the clerk of the district court. There is no bill of exceptions. This transcript is proper to be considered for what it contains, but of course, as every lawyer and those who preside over the courts know, this cannot be presumed to represent the amount and character of the service performed.
It follows that by the majority opinion this court has discarded the presumption that the discretion of the district court may not be disturbed on review in the absence of a sufficient showing that it was abused. Further, without any justification it has set aside the adjudication as to the apportionment of fees, which is based upon a presumptively sound discretion, and substituted without any basis therefor an arbitrary apportionment.
It has been urged that knowledge of the surrounding extrinsic facts is not necessary to the determination of a proper apportionment since the statutory provision designates the facts which shall be considered in making the apportionment. This contention is without merit. Nothing of that character appears in or is inferable from the provision. The statute provides (1) for the allowance of attorneys’ fees and the amount thereof; (2) the conditions under which the attorney for plaintiff1 shall be entitled to the entire fee; (3) the conditions requiring a division between or among attorneys; and (4) the description of attorneys between or among whom a division shall be made in case the entire fee shall not go to the plaintiff’s attorney.
The adjudication of the district court fixing the amount of the fee and in making the apportionment thereof should have been affirmed.