Determination of reasonable attorney fees. — Where a fire, that was negligently
caused by defendant, destroyed plaintiff’s personal property in a mobile home that
plaintiff rented from defendant; the jury awarded plaintiff $25,000 in compensatory
damages; plaintiff sought $70,318 in attorney fees based on the lodestar calculation of
time spent on the case and the hourly rate charged by plaintiff’s counsel; and on the
grounds that plaintiff’s attorney fees were almost three times the jury award and that the
case involved only property damage and no broader public policy, the district court
applied a proportional test and awarded plaintiff $10,000 in attorney fees with an offset
of $5,000 for defendant’s successful defense of plaintiff’s claims for punitive damages,
emotional stress damages, and civil penalty damages, the district court abused its
discretion because the district court failed to consider the public policy goals of the
Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act to encourage compliance with the act and
because the district court failed to consider a lodestar analysis or any objective analysis
of the facts in determining attorney fees. Behrens v. Gateway Court, L.L.C., 2013-
NMCA-097, cert. granted, 2013-NMCERT-009.
Prevailing party. — The "prevailing party" is the party who wins on the merits or on the
main issue of the case. Hedicke v. Gunville, 2003-NMCA-032, 133 N.M. 335, 62 P.3d
1217, cert. denied, 133 N.M. 413, 63 P.3d 516.