Utah Court Upholds Award for In House Counsel’s Legal Time.

Attorney Fee Award For In-House Counsel Upheld

SOFTSOLUTIONS, INC. V. BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY, No. 981481 (Utah Sup. Ct., 5/19/00)

Arbitral awards of attorney fees relating to time spent by in-house counsel are appropriate, but should be based on a cost-plus rate, rather than a market-rate formula.

The primary issues on appeal in this Award challenge by Softsolutions deal with whether the Arbitrator in this software royalty dispute decided issues not submitted for disposition in the joint agreement of the parties.

We focused on the attorney fee issues, but the decision has other interesting facets. BYU, the licensor of the software, won $1.7 million from Softsolutions, the distributor-licensee of the software, plus $115,000 in attorney fees. Softsolutions lost in its attempt to vacate or modify the Award at the trial court level and was assessed an additional $28,987.50 in attorney fees for post-Award litigation.

This Court upholds the Award in full and, on the attorney fee issue, states: “…we are persuaded by the ample authority from other jurisdictions that a successful litigant who is not primarily engaged in providing legal services may recover attorney fees when represented by salaried in-house counsel. Such an award is still limited to those occasions when the contract between the parties, a statute, or other rule of law otherwise entitles a party to recover attorney fees….”

The Court disagrees, however, with the use of a formula based on market rates for outside counsel. The Arbitrator’s determination stands, because it is not irrational, but the trial court’s assessment of $28,897.50 has to be re-calculated.

On remand, the trial court should take into account the proportionate share of the in-house attorney’s salary and benefits, plus an allocation for overhead, including “costs of office space, support staff, office equipment and supplies, law library and continuing legal education, and similar expenses.” (SAC Ref. No. 00-22-003).


Copyright 2000-2002 Securities Arbitration Commentator, Inc. P.O. Box 112, Maplewood, NJ 07040; t: 973-761-5880 f: 973-761-1504. Materials denoted with a SAC Reference No. (e.g. SAC Ref. No. 99-01-001) are on hand at SAC and may be obtained by calling the Securities Arbitration Commentator, or by email to help@sacarbitration.com. The Securities Arbitration Commentator is the leading publication for securities arbitration news and information, and maintains the most complete database of arbitration awards availalble anywhere. For more information regarding their services, visit their website at www.sacarbitration.com


Nothing herein is intended as legal or financial advice. The law is different in different jurisdictions, and the facts of a particular matter can change the application of the law. Please consult an attorney or your financial advisor before acting upon the information contained in this article.


Securities Attorney at Sallah Astarita & Cox | 212-509-6544 | mja@sallahlaw.com | Website | + posts

Mark Astarita is a nationally recognized securities attorney, who represents investors, financial professionals and firms in securities litigation, arbitration and regulatory matters, including SEC and FINRA investigations and enforcement proceedings.

He is a partner in the national securities law firm Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC, and the founder of The Securities Law Home Page - SECLaw.com, which was one of the first legal topic sites on the Internet. It went online in 1995 and is updated daily with news, commentary and securities law related links.