Court Opinion

ID: 9713911
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:26:12.380689+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:21.730104
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE CRAVEN, specially concurring: I concur in the result reached and in the reasoning. I write separately only to observe that the funding of litigation places an unfair burden on counties. This burden is placed there not because of any carefully thought out and orderly means of financing our court system and litigation involving indigents. Rather the present burden placed upon counties is a product of a system which, like Topsy, “just grew.” From time to time we are compelled to enter orders against counties, sometimes small counties with limited resources, for transcripts or attorney fees or for the payment of other incidents regarding litigation when there is no realistic nexus between the county and the reason for the charge or fee. Thus, this specially concurring opinion is to note the problem and to express the view that the 19th century burdens imposed on counties should be reexamined in the light of present-day reality. That need, however, does not detract from the fact that lawyers are entitled to be paid for services rendered pursuant to court order. Such payment should be reasonable under the circumstances. It is patent that awarding of a fee of $8 an hour in the face of overhead costs over twice that amount is unreasonable. The result of such an order is to require counsel to subsidize litigation both with his time and his money in the form of office expense. I agree that this is not permissible.