Sen. Dave Donley State Capitol, Room 508 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Phone: (907) 465-3892 Fax: (907) 465-6595

Sen. Pete Kelly State Capitol, Room 518 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Phone: (907) 465-2327 Fax: (907) 465-5241

Senate Stops Excessive Lawyer Fees

(JUNEAU) - The Senate passed a bill today that would reduce costs to the state for attorney fees for unsuccessful legal claims by public interest litigants.

Senate Bill 183 would adopt a uniform standard for all litigants by making public interest litigants subject to the provisions regarding judgments for attorneys' fees in the current Civil Rule 82. The bill would also prevent legal fees being awarded to a litigant for claims on which they did not prevail. The legislation allows courts to still award higher or full fees when, in the court's opinion, exceptional circumstances so justify.

"The State of Alaska annually gives up to hundreds of thousands of public dollars to public interest litigants for the fees they incur bringing forward unsuccessful legal claims," said Sen. Dave Donley (R-Anchorage), co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee. "This money belongs to the people of Alaska, and it is wrong to waste it on unsuccessful legal claims that bring no benefit to the state or its residents."

The existing Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 82 sets out a formula for the reimbursement of attorney fees collected by the prevailing party in a legal action. Prevailing litigants typically collect 20 percent of their reasonable actual attorney's fees incurred on a case resolved without trial, and 30 percent for a case that goes to trial.

The Public Interest Litigant Doctrine (PILD) has been established through a series of Alaska Supreme Court decisions, and creates an exception to Civil Rule 82 by allowing the courts to classify a party as a "public interest litigant." Once they have received this designation, litigants can collect full attorney fees on all claims they make, including unsuccessful ones, even if they only prevail on a single claim. They are not required to pay any of the state's legal expenses if they lose. This is highly unusual as not even innocent victims of violent crime who subsequently bring civil suit against criminals are allowed such generous attorney fees.

"Forcing the taxpayers to pay for losing legal claims encourages spurious, costly and wasteful lawsuits. Without this needed change special interest plaintiffs know they will receive compensation for all costs even if they only win on one of many claims," said Donley. "This bill will help curb that problem, and will treat all litigants in our state courts fairly and equally."

SB 183 passed the Senate with a vote of 12- 8. A notice of reconsideration was filed.

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Attachments:

• Sponsor Statement for SB 183
• Print Friendly Version
  requires Adobe Acrobat Reader - 1 page(s) - 95 K

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