{"id":900512,"date":"2022-10-26T15:08:02","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T21:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=900512"},"modified":"2022-10-26T15:08:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T21:08:02","slug":"utah-claim-attorney-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/utah-claim-attorney-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"Hogs Can Get Slaughtered on Fees in Utah if Their Claim is Too Greedy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Tyson J. Prisbrey and Mark O. Morris | <a href=\"https:\/\/information.swlaw.com\/REACTION\/2022\/Newsletters\/UnderConstruction\/1019_UC_WEB.html#top\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Snell &amp; Wilmer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Construction contracts generally provide that the loser in a construction dispute must pay the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/attorneys-fees-breach-of-contract\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attorneys\u2019 fees<\/a> of the prevailing party. But construction contracts, by their nature, can lead to outcomes in which it is hard to determine who comes out on top of a dispute. Parties\u2019 misconceptions about the leverage they have with attorneys\u2019 fees clauses, and false senses of strength, often lead to mistakes in being overly aggressive in litigation that ultimately leads to disappointing, inefficient, and surprising resolutions. Of course, every litigant wants to maximize its recovery or minimize its outlay in a construction dispute. But if a litigant shoots for the moon, and ultimately recovers only a small percentage of those damages, a court could easily find that the litigant was not, comparatively, the prevailing party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The recent decision by the Utah Court of Appeals in&nbsp;<em>Maxwell Masonry Restoration &amp; Cleaning, LLC v. North Ridge Construction, Inc.<\/em>, 2022 UT App 109 is instructive. Maxwell, the masonry subcontractor for a project, filed a complaint against the general contractor, North Ridge, alleging breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant, and various tort claims related to the subcontract agreement. Maxwell sought over $250,000 in damages, most of which was for work outside the scope of the subcontract. North Ridge responded with counterclaims of its own, initially seeking $36,621 in damages, but later electing to only seek liquidated damages in the amount of $16,750.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After nearly a year of discovery and motion practice, the court dismissed the lion\u2019s share of Maxwell\u2019s damage claims, ultimately finding that North Ridge breached the subcontract with respect to the $18,537.40 withheld from the final payment. It also found, however, that Maxwell had breached the subcontract by delaying the work, making it liable for $16,750 in liquidated damages. Maxwell was also entitled to $47,000 in retainage, which was not really in dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trial court then analyzed which party prevailed for purposes of an attorney\u2019s fee award. The court explained that Maxwell \u201crecovered\u201d $65,223.71 of its initial request of $251,308.38, which the court determined was a 26 percent success rate. The $47,000 in retainage was part of that math. It also explained that North Ridge \u201crecovered\u201d $16,750 of what it initially claimed of $36,621, a 46 percent success rate. The court also analyzed which party was the \u201ccomparative victor\u201d, concluding that Maxwell\u2019s award was greater than North Ridge\u2019s award. With those metrics, the trial court reasoned that because the total damages awarded were close, and because the success rate percentage difference was \u201cnot extreme,\u201d neither party was the prevailing party, and it was a \u201cdraw\u201d. Thus the trial court awarded no attorneys\u2019 fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On appeal, the Utah Court of Appeals found that the district court erred by concluding that Maxwell \u201crecovered\u201d $65,223.71 for purposes of its prevailing party analysis because, of the $65,223.71, Maxwell did not \u201crecover\u201d the retainage funds because they were not included in the amount the district court awarded in the judgment. Thus Maxwell \u201crecovered\u201d only $18,537.40. Maxwell recovered only seven percent (not 26 percent as the district court concluded), whereas North Ridge\u2019s success rate was 46 percent. The court found the difference between these two rates significant. Having found that the district court erred in Maxwell\u2019s recovery metric, the court of appeals found that the district court exceeded its discretion by concluding that there was no prevailing party, and found that North Ridge was the prevailing party. The Utah Court of Appeals noted that North Ridge had several victories with motions in limine that limited Maxwell\u2019s damages claims and a successful Rule 52(a) motion during trial that dismissed all but one of Maxwell\u2019s claims, whereas Maxwell\u2019s victories were far less impactful. Lastly, the court examined North Ridge\u2019s comparative victory considering what a total victory would have meant for each party: total victory for Maxwell would be recovering $251,308.38, while total victory for North Ridge would be recovering only $36,621. With North Ridge recovering nearly half the total amount of its total victory, it was much closer to a total victory than Maxwell\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lesson: Be realistic about the demands you make, and take into account your own exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tyson J. Prisbrey and Mark O. Morris | Snell &amp; Wilmer Construction contracts generally provide that the loser in a construction dispute must pay the attorneys\u2019 fees of the prevailing party. But construction contracts, by their nature, can lead to outcomes in which it is hard to determine who comes out on top of a&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/utah-claim-attorney-fees\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Hogs Can Get Slaughtered on Fees in Utah if Their Claim is Too Greedy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,9,10885],"tags":[9895,142,224,10701,106],"class_list":["post-900512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","category-construction-contracts","category-property-insurance-claims","tag-advise-consult","tag-attorneys-fees","tag-construction-contract","tag-property-insurance-claims","tag-utah","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hogs Can Get Slaughtered on Fees in Utah if Their Claim is Too Greedy - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/utah-claim-attorney-fees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hogs Can Get Slaughtered on Fees in Utah if Their Claim is Too Greedy - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tyson J. Prisbrey and Mark O. Morris | Snell &amp; Wilmer Construction contracts generally provide that the loser in a construction dispute must pay the attorneys\u2019 fees of the prevailing party. 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