Boamah-Wiafe v. Rashleigh

In Boamah-Wiafe v. Rashleigh, 9 Neb. App. 503, 614 N.W.2d 778 (2000), the Nebraska Court of Appeals modified the trial court's award of attorney fees to the appellee, finding that the record did not support the $ 4,000 fee awarded by the trial court. In that case, the only evidence introduced to support the amount of the award was the appellee's testimony that she incurred around $ 5,000 in fees and the fact that she was asking the court to award her that amount. The Court of Appeals observed: "To base a fee upon the amount paid by the applicant is essentially the same as relying upon a presumption that the fee paid by the applicant to his or her attorney is reasonable, which would be contrary to Koehler, supra. . . . By the nature of modern litigation, we suspect that the record alone will usually not support more than the nominal fee and perhaps only a minimal fee at best." (Boamah-Wiafe v. Rashleigh, 9 Neb. App. at 519, 614 N.W.2d at 789-90.) The Court of Appeals determined that the record supported the allowance of a $ 1,000 fee. The Court held: It is not strictly necessary for an applicant for attorney fees to introduce specific evidence to support an award of attorney fees, but before an award of attorney fees will be affirmed upon appeal, the record must contain the information that shows that the award is within the range of the trial court's discretion. . . . If the contents of the record, i.e., pleadings, introduced discovery documents, time spent in court as shown by the court record, and doubtless many other items which will support the award, do show the allowed fee not to be unreasonable, then that fee would not be untenable or an abuse of discretion. . . . By the nature of modern litigation, we suspect that the record alone will usually not support more than the nominal fee and perhaps only a minimal fee at best.