{"id":903307,"date":"2024-09-17T15:46:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T21:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=903307"},"modified":"2024-09-17T15:46:52","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T21:46:52","slug":"attorneys-fees-and-american-arbitration-association-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/attorneys-fees-and-american-arbitration-association-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorneys\u2019 Fees and the American Arbitration Association Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Bill Wilson | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionlawzone.com\/2024\/07\/attorneys-fees-and-the-american-arbitration-association-rule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Robinson+Cole<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A common question from clients, when a dispute arises on a construction project, is whether they can recover their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/attorneys-fees-homeowner-claims-insurance-companies\/\">attorney\u2019s fees<\/a> from the other side if they pursue a case and win. More often than not, such fees are not recoverable. As a general rule (commonly known as the \u201cAmerican Rule\u201d), each party to a dispute must bear their own attorney\u2019s fees unless there is some statutory provision or contractual agreement between the parties allowing otherwise. Since most construction disputes involve claims for breach of contract and\/or negligence, no realistic statutory provision often allows for attorney\u2019s fees. Many construction contracts do not typically provide a prevailing party the right to collect attorney\u2019s fees from the other side. However, even if the American Rule applies, there may be another path to recovering attorney\u2019s fees if the parties agree to arbitrate their dispute under the American Arbitration Association (AAA) rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The AAA Construction Industry Arbitration Rules allow parties another opportunity to put attorney\u2019s fees back on the table when faced with the American Rule.\u00a0 Rule R-49\u00a0<em>Scope of Award<\/em>, subsection (d) allows an Arbitrator to include \u201can award of attorneys\u2019 fees if all parties have requested such an award or it is authorized by law or their arbitration agreement.\u201d Attorney\u2019s fees are possible if all parties request them, even when such an award is not authorized by law or in the underlying construction agreement. It\u2019s unclear whether Rule R-49 requires the parties to formally agree to allow the arbitrator to award attorney\u2019s fees to the winning party or if both parties simply need to request attorney\u2019s fees in their respective filings. Rule R-49\u00a0<em>Scope of Award<\/em>, subsection (c) also authorizes an Arbitrator to assess administrative fees, arbitration expenses, and the arbitrator\u2019s compensation against the parties in such amounts as the arbitrator determines is appropriate. If the parties in a construction dispute have agreed to arbitrate under AAA rules, the possibility of recovering attorney\u2019s fees and other costs under the AAA rules may be enough to persuade a client wary of incurring potentially large legal costs into pursuing a claim in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\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\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bill Wilson | Robinson+Cole A common question from clients, when a dispute arises on a construction project, is whether they can recover their attorney\u2019s fees from the other side if they pursue a case and win. More often than not, such fees are not recoverable. As a general rule (commonly known as the \u201cAmerican Rule\u201d),&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/attorneys-fees-and-american-arbitration-association-rule\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Attorneys\u2019 Fees and the American Arbitration Association Rule<\/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":[41,172],"tags":[9895,142],"class_list":["post-903307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arbitration","category-construction-law-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-attorneys-fees","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>Attorneys\u2019 Fees and the American Arbitration Association Rule - Advise &amp; 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