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Culler v. Hardy3/21/2000
(3) the timing of the settlement offers; (4) the amount of the settlement offers as compared to the jury verdict. Id. at 351, 513 S.E.2d at 334-35 (citations omitted).
Similarly, in Harrison, 35 N.C. App. 259, 241 S.E.2d 108, the defendant made a settlement offer of $200.00 prior to trial and the jury returned a verdict of $250.00 for plaintiff. The trial court declined to award attorney's fees and this Court affirmed the decision of the trial court. Most recently, in Blackmon, __ N.C. App. __, 519 S.E.2d 335, this Court affirmed the trial court's denial of attorney's fees where the defendant made a substantial offer of judgment prior to trial and the amounts offered in settlement were greater than the amount plaintiff recovered at trial.
In the present case, defendant contends that plaintiff refused a reasonable pretrial settlement offer. Plaintiff denies that such a settlement offer was made. In any event, the trial court failed to make any findings of fact regarding the existence or amount of any settlement offer. Even while hearing the Motion to Amend, the trial court failed to appreciate the significance of settlement offers. In addressing said motion, the trial court stated:
FURTHER, the Court did specifically consider the statements made by the defendant during the argument made by the defendant during the hearing on July 1, 1998 and re-stated in the defendant's Motion to Amend Order as paragraph 4, sub-parts . . . (d) and (e), but did not find the factors of such consequence as to be made a part of the final order.
According to Horton, the timing and amount of settlement offers and the amount of the jury verdict are significant factors for the trial court to consider in determining whether to award attorney's fees.
The trial court abused its discretion in awarding attorney's fees to counsel for plaintiff without considering the guidelines established by Horton. As such, we hold that the award of attorney's fees in the present case must be vacated and the case remanded for the trial court to consider the entire record in the proper exercise of its discretion. The trial court is required to make additional findings of fact regarding the timing and amount of any settlement offers, the bargaining position of the parties, and the amount of the settlement offers as compared to the jury verdict.
For the foregoing reasons, we hold that the trial court erred in awarding attorney's fees to counsel for plaintiff. Therefore, we vacate and remand. Having determined that the trial court erred, we need not address defendant's remaining assignments of error.
Vacated and Remanded.
Judges GREENE and WALKER concur.
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