Oregon Plaintiff's Reply to Defendant's Objection for Attorney's Fees and Costs

To recap: fees are the amount paid for the attorneys' time and effort working on your case, costs are the amount paid for out-of-pocket expenses on your case. Every case will have both fees and costs. Be sure you understand the difference.

For now, the general rule in America remains that each party pays its own lawyers. Although the American Rule generally prevents parties from recovering their legal fees, there are exceptions.These statutes do not, however, permit prevailing defendants to recover their fees.

Attorney fees are included in the computation of amount in controversy. The court may consider a pre-suit demand letter in determining the value of the plaintiff's claims at the time of removal.

Attorney's Fees Do Not Constitute Actual Damages.

In order to obtain an attorney's fee award, the litigant seeking such an award must prove both that the fees in question have, in fact, been incurred and that they are reasonable.

In the United States, the rule (called the American Rule) is that each party pays only their own attorneys' fees, regardless of whether they win or lose. Even so, exceptions exist.

Reasonable attorneys' fees, including: time and labor required, novelty and difficultly of the issues, skill required, customary fees charged in the locality, amounts involved and results obtained, nature and length of representation, and experience and reputations of the lawyer).

The amount in controversy may include compensatory damages including general and special damages such as pain and suffering and out of pocket loss. The amount in controversy may also include punitive damages.

As in cases where the complaint lacks a claim for specific damages, the amount in controversy is determined by the object of the litigation; it is determined by the economic impact of the declaratory judgment upon either party.