Understanding Attorney’s Fees: What Happens When You Win Your Case?

One of the most common questions clients ask when heading into litigation or arbitration is: “If we win our case, does the other side have to pay our attorney’s fees?”

As the prevailing party, recovering your legal fees is often a top priority. While the prospect of recovering these costs is a strong motivating factor in pursuing a case, the mechanisms behind how fees are awarded can vary significantly.

Here is a breakdown of the primary ways attorney’s fees are recovered and what you should expect during the process.

The Contract Itself

The first place to look is the contract underlying the dispute. Many contracts include a specific clause stating that in the event of a lawsuit, the prevailing party is entitled to recover their reasonable attorney’s fees.

When this language is present, it provides a strong foundation for a fee claim. However, if the contract is entirely silent on the matter, you must look to state or federal statutes to see if fee recovery is permissible.

Statutory Provisions: Permissive vs. Mandatory

When a contract doesn’t explicitly guarantee fees, statutory law can dictate whether they are awarded. Generally, these statutes fall into two categories:

• Permissive Statutes: These give the court or arbitrator the option to award fees, but they are not strictly required to do so. For example, in Texas, Chapter 38 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code allows the winner of a breach of contract action to recover fees. Similarly, the Declaratory Judgment Act allows for the recovery of reasonable fees, meaning the court may choose to grant them, though it is not mandatory.
• Mandatory Statutes: These laws dictate that the court must award fees to the winning party, typically using explicit language like “shall recover”. Statutes like the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) and the Texas Home Solicitation Act fall into this category. In these scenarios, the judge or arbitrator is legally obligated to grant fees, though they still maintain control over the final amount.

The Role of Judicial Discretion: What is “Reasonable”?

Even when a contract or a mandatory statute guarantees attorney’s fees, the final amount awarded is always subject to the judge’s or arbitrator’s discretion regarding what is “reasonable”.

To prove our fees, Prevost Law Firm utilizes the lodestar method, meticulously tracking and billing all time spent working on a case.

At the conclusion of a matter, we present a comprehensive invoice detailing the full scope of our work. Depending on the complexity of the litigation, these totals can have a vary wide range.

Clients should be aware that judges occasionally reduce the requested amount.

For instance, a firm might fully justify $50,000 in accrued fees, but a judge may ultimately rule that $40,000 is the “reasonable” amount to be paid by the opposing party.

Whatever figure the judge determines is reasonable is the final amount you receive.

Moving Forward with Eyes Wide Open

Litigation always carries an element of unpredictability.

On rare occasions, a judge might award a client everything they requested in the lawsuit but decline to grant the accompanying attorney’s fees.

In arbitrations, these decisions are final and cannot be appealed.

We do not invest tens of thousands of dollars of time and resources into a case unless we believe there is a very strong likelihood of successfully recovering those costs.

Because the vast majority of prevailing plaintiffs in these jurisdictions are successfully awarded their fees, we approach these disputes with calculated optimism.

If you are facing a legal dispute and want to evaluate your potential for recovering attorney’s fees, contact Prevost Law Firm today to review your contract and statutory options.