A Pyrrhic Victory in Attorney's Fee Challenge

The Michigan Supreme Court reversed in a part a trial court's award of attorney's fees in a divorce case. But the victory was hollow for the party who brought their attorney's fee challenge all the way to the Supreme Court in Desai v Desai, issued February 6, 2013 (Docket 144818). In Desai, the appellant and his attorney had been sanctioned by the trial court jointly and severally for $10,044.25 in attorney's fees for filing a frivolous action. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's sanction in an unpublished opinion, Desai v Desai, issued December 8, 2011 (Docket 300330).

The appellant proceeded to challenge the sanction in the Supreme Court. Over a year later, the Supreme Court agreed that one cost item included in the trial court's sanction was "for services that were not incurred in connection with the plaintiff’s complaint for divorce." The Supreme Court thus subtracted that $342 item from the attorney's fees sanction. It is a pyrrhic victory because the appellant paid $375 to file the supreme court application (not to mention attorney's fee for preparing the application, and the costs and fees associated with the appeal to the Court of Appeals) all to reduce the judgment by a mere $342.