Rep. Wesco has introduced HB 1137 which would require a court to award attorney’s fees to a prevailing party where the court grants a motion to dismiss based on the claim “not having a basis in law or fact.”
Current law permits (rather than requires) an award of attorney’s fees to the prevailing party where the claim or defense of the other party was “frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless.” I guess I don’t know what the statute means by “not having a basis in law or fact.” If this is meant to award fees where the dismissal is based on Trial Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; they should say so. But, I can’t tell if that’s what the statute is getting at or not; which would be a problem if, say, I were a judge being asked to implement it.
Leave a Reply