Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 850661.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 850661.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
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Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/850661.pdf ↗

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(quoting SentinelC3, Inc. v. Hunt, 181 Wn.2d 127, 144, 331 P.3d 40 (2014)).

Absent such a record, the preferred remedy is to remand for entry of proper

findings and conclusions. Id. Although the trial court’s findings of fact and

conclusion of law recited the six Absher factors, the court did not analyze whether

Dondero’s or Sacco’s time entries satisfied these criteria. Instead, it simply

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No. 85066-1-I

concluded, “[T]hese factors are satisfied with respect to paralegal, trial technician

and legal assistant timekeepers.” Because the trial court failed to articulate the

grounds for its award of these fees as required to establish a record sufficient for

meaningful review, we remand for entry of proper findings of fact and conclusions

of law on the issue of whether to award attorney fees to Sgt. Hockett for work

performed by Dondero and Sacco.

VIII

Sgt. Hockett requests attorney fees on appeal on the same statutory basis

as his award of attorney fees at trial. If attorney fees are allowable below, the

prevailing party may recover those fees on appeal. Aiken v. Aiken, 187 Wn.2d

491, 506, 387 P.3d 680 (2017) (citing RAP 18.1). As the prevailing party, Sgt.

Hockett’s appellate fees are awardable to him, with the possible exception of fees

relating to whether the trial court abused its discretion by awarding fees for the

work performed by Dondero and Sacco. On that issue, Sgt. Hockett has not yet

succeeded on the merits of his request, though he may still prevail on remand. In

Morgan, this court remanded the issue of the amount of recoverable attorney fees

on appeal under RAP 18.1(i) because a portion of the trial court’s fee award was