VANISHING ATTORNEY’S FEES IN A PATERNITY ACTION
March 21, 2013 § 2 Comments
Tash Solangi filed suit against Kasey Croney to establish paternity and to obtain custody of the parties’ minor child, Caleb. Much of the trial was devoted to the parties’ custody conflict. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court awarded Kasey physical custody, gave the parties joint legal custody, changed the child’s name, and assessed child support. The chancellor also awarded Kasey a judgment in the sum of $14,000 in attorney’s fees. Tash appealed.
Much of the COA’s opinion in Solangi v. Croney, handed down March 12, 2013, addresses the chancellor’s findings on the Albright factors, which the COA did not disturb. It is the court’s handling of the attorney’s fee issue to which we turn out attention. Judge Fair’s opinion states:
¶28. The chancellor awarded Kacey approximately $14,000 in attorney’s fees and costs. The award was based on Mississippi Code Annotated section 93-9-45 (Rev. 2004), which provides that the defendant in successful paternity actions shall pay costs and attorney’s fees. There are two problems with this award. The first is that the trial from which the award largely derives was for custody rather than paternity, with paternity being admitted by the parties in their initial pleadings. The second problem is more fundamental: the statute states that costs and fees shall be assessed against the defendant. Given that Kacey was the defendant, section 93-9-45 does not authorize an award of costs and fees against Tash.
¶29. We recognize that the issue of attorney’s fees in domestic cases is largely entrusted to the sound discretion of the chancellor. McKee v. McKee, 418 So. 2d 764, 767 (Miss. 1982). Therefore we must also consider the possibility that the award can be justified under the McKee factors. However, that would require that Kacey be unable to pay her own fees. See Dunaway v. Dunaway, 749 So. 2d 1112, 1120 (¶20) (Miss. Ct. App. 1999). No such finding was made by the chancellor, nor would the record support it given that Kacey and Tash were of similar means, with Kacey earning approximately $72,000 per year.
¶30. We conclude that the award of fees and costs to Kacey is unsupported by the record and must be reversed and rendered.
Two points: (1) if you rely solely on the paternity (parentage) statute for authority to award an attorney’s fee, you’d better be representing the plaintiff; and (2) if the case is not for contempt, you must prove inability to pay. and although Judge Fair does not mention it here, he has said recently in another opinion, that in every case you should put on proof of the Mckee factors; otherwise there is nothing in the record to show how the chancellor arrived at a decision that the dollar amount awarded was reasonable.
And another point: I would have offered proof of how much time was devoted to the custody action and how much was devoted to the paternity action. That way, if the judge finds only part allowable, she has a record on which to base a partial award.
If you will click on that category search button up there on the right side of the page and again click on “Attorney’s Fees,” you will find a slew of posts on proving attorney’s fees and protecting the award on appeal.
WORTHWHILE READING ON ATTORNEY’S FEES
February 20, 2013 § 1 Comment
A subject of vital interest to lawyer is, or should be, what it takes to get an award of attorney’s fees at trial. The cases on the subject are all over the proverbial ballpark, so I found the following language from Judge Fair’s specially concurring opinion to the COA’s decision in Jordan v. Jordan, handed down December 11, 2012, affirming Judge McKenzie, to be quite helpful.
¶23. I write separately to address the award of attorney’s fees by a trial judge, a subject the Mississippi Supreme Court has discussed directly only twice in the last five years.
¶24. It is not disputed by judges and practitioners that the “best practice” in awarding fees is a ruling by the trial judge in which each of the factors set out in McKee v. McKee, 418 So. 2d 764, 767 (Miss. 1982), is specifically addressed.
¶25. Ronald argues that the lack of such a discussion should require mandatory reversal as is the case in other “factor determination” cases. See Lowrey v. Lowrey, 25 So. 3d 274, 280 (¶7) (Miss. 2009) (factor tests, as provided in Ferguson and Armstrong, must be considered on the record in every case); Powell v. Ayars, 792 So. 2d 240, 244 (¶8) (Miss. 2001) (holding failure of trial court to address each Albright factor in awarding custody was reversible error).
¶26. Not so, says the Mississippi Supreme Court. In West v. West, 88 So. 3d 735, 747 (¶57) (Miss. 2012), the supreme court upheld the chancellor’s award of attorney’s fees “because it was not manifestly wrong.” The court explained that “[a]lthough the trial judge did not include an analysis of the McKee factors in his judgment, his award was not unreasonable, so we affirm.” Id. at (¶58) (citation omitted).
¶27. The same standard was applied to a circuit court. In Collins v. Coppers, 59 So. 3d 582, 593 (¶35) (Miss. 2011), the court noted:
The trial judge began his discussion of the reasonableness of the defendants’ attorneys’ fees by noting that his analysis was to be guided by the McKee factors . . . . The judge noted that this litigation has been ongoing for over four years, requiring several hearings, and the pleadings are voluminous. After considering those factors, the court’s knowledge of what is charged for legal services in the area, and all other [McKee ] factors, the trial judge found that the amount of attorneys’ fees submitted by the defendants was reasonable.
¶28. While I would continue to recommend an on-the-record analysis of each McKee factor to support an award of attorney’s fees, the failure to do so has not been considered reversible error.
That’s about as good a practice guide on the subject as you will find anywhere.
Remember that, in a divorce case, you must establish inability to pay before the judge can reach the issue of reasonableness. Gray v. Gray, 745 So.2d 234, 239 (Miss. 1999). After you have laid that predicate, then the question becomes whether the chancellor had sufficient evidence to support his decision on attorney’s fees, whether or not all of the McKee factors are proven or addressed. A case illustrating these points is Tatum v. Tatum, decided December 11, 2012, by the COA.
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