Beaverton School District 48J v. Ward

384 P.3d 158, 281 Or. App. 76, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1086
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedSeptember 14, 2016
DocketC124262CV; A156258
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 384 P.3d 158 (Beaverton School District 48J v. Ward) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beaverton School District 48J v. Ward, 384 P.3d 158, 281 Or. App. 76, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1086 (Or. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

DEVORE, J.

Defendants, David Ward, Hal Ward, and Ward Properties, LLC (collectively, the Wards), appeal a supplemental judgment awarding them attorney fees in an amount less than they requested. Plaintiff, Beaverton School District (the school district), condemned the Wards’ property through the exercise of its powers of eminent domain. Although the parties disputed the valuation of the condemned property, they eventually settled the case after an offer to compromise. The offer left determination of attorney fees to the court. The court awarded the Wards’ fees in a supplemental judgment. They appeal, contending that the trial court erred in ruling that their arguments as to valuation were not objectively reasonable. We affirm.

We review the trial court’s award of attorney fees for an abuse of discretion. ORS 20.075(3) (reviewing court “may not modify the decision of the court in making or denying an award, or the decision of the court as to the amount of the award, except upon a finding of an abuse of discretion”). “[T]he proper exercise of discretion may be predicated on the trial court’s determinations of questions of law or fact— and those determinations, in turn, may implicate independent standards of review.” Niman and Niman, 206 Or App 400, 415, 136 P3d 1186 (2006). We review for legal error the trial court’s determination that the Wards lacked an objectively reasonable basis for their valuation arguments. Lenn v. Bottem, 221 Or App 241, 248, 190 P3d 399, rev den, 345 Or 503 (2008); Secor Investments, LLC v. Anderegg, 188 Or App 154, 175, 71 P3d 538, rev den, 336 Or 146 (2003).

The underlying dispute involves 30.73 acres of land in Beaverton previously owned by the Wards. In June 2010, the Beaverton School District sought to acquire the property to provide space for a school. The parties attempted to negotiate a sale for some time but without success. Before suit, their final offer and counteroffer were several million dollars apart. In February 2012, the school district’s board of directors authorized and directed the district superintendent to immediately proceed, by exercise of its powers of eminent domain, to acquire the Wards’ property. See ORS 332.182 (condemnation of realty for school purposes).

[79]*79The school district filed a complaint on July 6, 2012. The parties continued to dispute proper valuation of the property. More specifically, they disagreed about the applicable date of the taking from which a fair value of the property should be determined. The school district contended that just compensation was $2,920,000, while the Wards argued it was $9,019,255. The Wards relied upon a valuation that looked to the “date of trial” as the date of the taking.1 The school district argued that the filing of the complaint was the date of the taking.

On the first day scheduled for trial, the parties appeared on a motion in limine in which the school district sought to exclude the Wards’ property appraisals. The school district asserted that the appraisals offered by the Wards impermissibly considered occurrences after the date that the complaint had been filed, July 6, 2012. The court granted the motion, determining that the Wards’ appraisers “used dates of valuation inconsistent with [extant case law].” The court concluded that “valuation is done at the time of taking and * * * that is the date of filing, which is July 6, 2012 [,]”2

Thereafter, the Wards accepted the amount that had been submitted as an offer of compromise — $3,687,600, not including costs, disbursements, attorney fees, and expenses. The trial court entered a general judgment, stating that the Wards would be awarded

“attorneys’ fees and expenses, as determined by the court to have been incurred before service of the Offer of Compromise ***. Said costs, disbursements, attorneys’ fees and expenses shall be in an amount to be determined by the court pursuant to ORCP 68 and ORS 20.075(2), and set forth in a Supplemental Judgment in this matter.”

See ORS 35.300(2) (“If an offer of compromise under this section does not specifically include amounts for costs and disbursements, attorney fees and expenses, upon acceptance [80]*80of the offer the court shall give judgment to the defendant for the amount offered as just compensation for the property and * * * costs and disbursements, attorney fees and expenses that are determined by the court to have been incurred before service of the offer on the defendant.”).

The Wards petitioned to recover $270,995.19 in attorney fees and costs. Although the school district acknowledged that the Wards would be entitled to attorney fees under ORS 35.300, the school district opposed the amount requested. It contended, among other things, that the Wards had sought an unreasonable amount, that they had refused for some time to settle the case, and that they had continued to pursue an erroneous theory of valuation, which had needlessly driven up the cost of litigation.

The trial court considered the statutory factors enumerated in both ORS 20.075(1) and (2).3 Addressing a number of factors under ORS 20.075(1), the court found that the Wards’ valuation of the property to the eve of trial was not objectively reasonable.4 First, as to the objective [81]*81reasonableness of the claims, the court ruled that “despite defendants’ subjective belief as to value, their basis for valuation, and thus their claim, was not objectively reasonable. As such, this factor does not support a full award of attorney fees to defendant.” (Emphasis omitted.) See ORS 20.075(l)(b). Second, as to the extent to which an award would deter others from making meritless claims and defenses, the court ruled that “defendants’ position as to value is not supported by Oregon law.” See ORS 20.075(l)(d). Third as to the objective reasonableness of the parties, the court explained that, although counsel had acted in good faith, “defendants’ claims as to value were not supported by Oregon law, and thus not objectively reasonable.” See ORS 20.075(l)(e). Fourth, the court determined that “defendants were not objectively reasonable” in pursuing settlement. See ORS 20.075(f).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
384 P.3d 158, 281 Or. App. 76, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beaverton-school-district-48j-v-ward-orctapp-2016.