Also known as: attorney's fees · attorneys' fees · attorney fees · attorneys fees · attorney fee
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Compensation paid to an attorney for professional legal services rendered to a client. Awards of such compensation may be authorized by statute, contract, or narrow common-law exceptions when a party is forced into separate litigation by another's wrongful conduct.
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Antonio Alvarado sued in state court. The defendant filed a notice of removal to federal court. The district court determined it lacked subject matter jurisdiction and remanded the case. The court then ordered the defendant to pay the actual expenses, including attorney fees, that Alvarado incurred because of the removal.
Aaron Adams brought a derivative action on behalf of Apollo Energy. The action succeeded in part and produced a recovery for the company. The court awarded Adams reasonable expenses, including attorney fees, to be paid from the company's recovery.
Anthony Arnold filed a motion to modify an existing custody decree. The court found the motion vexatious and brought for purposes of harassment. The court assessed attorney fees and costs against Arnold.
Andrew Avery's negligence forced Alice Atkins to defend a separate lawsuit brought by a third party. Atkins prevailed in that earlier action. In her subsequent tort suit against Avery she recovered the reasonable attorney fees she had incurred defending the third-party case.
Andre Antoine sought enforcement of a support order in an interstate proceeding. The responding tribunal issued the support order and included an award of reasonable attorney fees to be paid by the obligor.
Ashford Manufacturing advanced reasonable attorney fees to a former partner who faced a claim arising from his prior role. The partner promised repayment if ultimately found not entitled to indemnification. The advance occurred in the ordinary course of the partnership's business.
Attorney fees incurred in the very action being litigated are ordinarily not recoverable as tort damages. A narrow exception permits recovery of reasonable fees spent defending a separate lawsuit against a third party when the defendant's tortious conduct made that earlier litigation necessary to protect the plaintiff's interests.
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Yes. The default rule requires each party to bear its own attorney fees in the lawsuit in which it is litigating. Those fees are treated as litigation expenses rather than an element of compensatory damages absent a statute, contract, or recognized exception.
…the defendant in that action, held the land under a deed purchased in a sheriff's sale conducted to realize on a judgment for attorney's fees obtained against Neff in a previous action by one Mitchell. At the time of Mitchell's suit in an Oregon State court, Neff was a nonresident of Oregon. An Oregon statute allowed service by…
…caused thereby and for punitive damages in the amount of $5,000, and the court shall award a prevailing plaintiff a reasonable
…be set forth as part of the pleadings”). Moreover, the fact that the Sherman Act authorizes the recovery of treble damages and attorney’s fees
…J. A. M. A. 2328 (1976). [^maj-21]: See M. Freedman, Lawyers' Ethics in an Adversary System 115-116 (1975); Branca & Steinberg, Attorney Fee
…injunction and from the awarding of damages to Webb. Webb cross-appeals from the trial court's refusal to award Webb its attorneys' fees
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A district court may require payment of just costs and actual expenses, including attorney fees, incurred as a result of removal when it remands a case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction or other proper ground.
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If the derivative action succeeds in whole or in part, the court may award the plaintiff reasonable expenses, including attorney fees and costs, from the recovery obtained for the limited liability company.
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Attorney fees and costs shall be assessed against a party seeking modification when the court finds that the modification action is vexatious and constitutes harassment.
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