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Wagner v. AGW Consultants5/24/2005
issued sanctions against him for repeatedly filing motions without merit. The WCJ did not initially enter findings of fact or conclusions of law regarding whether the parties engaged in bad faith, and therefore whether either party was entitled to additional attorney fees up to $2,500 under Section 52-1-54(I). On appeal the Court of Appeals retained jurisdiction but ordered the WCJ to enter findings and conclusions regarding the issue of bad faith.The WCJ found that some of Turner's pleadings were frivolous and without sound basis in law, but concluded that Turner's bad faith was irrelevant to awarding additional attorney fees under Section 51-2-54(I) because Turner was not Worker's employer. The WCJ ultimately found that Worker was an employee of AGW and that AGW was subject to the WCA, ordering AGW to pay Worker $58,599 in medical expenses and $26,671 in past and future weekly benefits.
{6} At the subsequent hearing on attorney fees, Worker 's attorney claimed to have worked more than 400 hours, at $150 per hour, on the pre-trial and trial work. Worker's attorney argued the $12,500 statutory limitation on attorney fees was unreasonable in this case given the extraordinary amount of time involved, and that the limitation was unconstitutional due to its chilling effect on workers' ability to obtain adequate representation. Worker presented expert testimony that the fee limitation can be unfair and can make it uneconomical for attorneys to pursue certain time-consuming cases . AGW and Turner challenged the jurisdiction of the WCJ to declare Section 52-1-54 unconstitutional and did not present evidence in support of the fee limitation.
{7} The WCJ awarded Worker $12,500 in attorney fees and made the following findings: (1) Worker's attorney reasonably expended over 200 hours at an hourly rate of $175 per hour, (2) the miserly fee limitation has a chilling effect on representation, and (3) $12,500 was a reasonable fee in this case. On certification, Worker argues the attorney fee limitation violates state equal protection and substantive due process, claiming that as applied, the limitation unconstitutionally infringes on the right to access the courts and the right to an appeal guaranteed in the New Mexico Constitution. AGW contends Worker does not have standing to challenge the fee limitation and that in any event the fee limitation is constitutional.
I. Worker Has Standing to Challenge Fee Limitation
{8} AGW claims Worker lacks standing to challenge the constitutionality of the fee limitation under Mieras v. Dyncorp, 1996-NMCA-095, 22, 122 N.M. 401, 925 P.2d 518, because the WCJ specifically found the $12,500 attorney fee to be reasonable and declined to find that Worker's attorney would have been entitled to a higher attorney fee but-for the limitation. We disagree.
{9} To have standing, Worker must either show, or the WCJ must explicitly find, that but for the fee limitation, reasonable attorney fees would have exceeded the awarded amount. See Meyers v. Western Auto & CNA Ins. Cos., 2002-NMCA-089, 29, 132 N.M. 675, 54 P.3d 79; cf. Mieras, 1996-NMCA-095, 22 (holding the claimant had standing where the WCJ specifically found the value of the attorney's services to exceed the limitation). Although the WCJ found $12,500 to be a reasonable fee, the WCJ also found that Worker's attorney reasonably expended over 200 hours representing Worker at a fee of $175 per hour. While these findings appear inconsistent, the latter indicates at a minimum that but for the limitation, Worker's attorney would have been reasonably entitled to at least $35,000 in attorney fees even before this appeal. Unlike in Meyers, where the claimant lacked standing because he neit
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