Returning Subscriber?
Not a Subscriber to Litigation Pathfinder?
Get the full text of this legal issue, including links to cited primary law, along with unlimited access 1,000’s of other legal issues…and more!
Issue: Under Nebraska law, must a request for attorneys’ fees be deemed to have been made in a party’s general prayer for "further" relief?
| Area of Law: | Litigation & Procedure |
| Keywords: | Rccovery of attorney's fees; Prayer for relief |
| Jurisdiction: | Nebraska |
| Cited Cases: | 665 N.W. 2d 582; 266 Neb. 377 |
| Cited Statutes: | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-1801, § 25-824; Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-1707 |
| Date: | 10/01/2007 |
On the question of notice to recover attorney’s fees, the court in your case noted that the case of Salkin v. Jacobsen, 263 Neb. 521, 526, 641 N.W. 2d 356, 360 (2002) held that a request for attorney’s fees must be denied if it is not made prior to the entry of judgment. The court held that defendants made a request for attorney’s fees, while plaintiff did not. Defendant claims that a request was made in his answer to plaintiff’s second amended complaint, by virtue of the language in his prayer for relief:
WHEREFORE, Defendant, prays that the Court . . . assess the costs of this proceeding against the Plaintiff and award him reasonable costs and attorney fees and/or such further relief as the Court deems just and proper.
Plaintiff’s Brief in Support of Motion.
There is no case, statute, or court rule that sets out the required form of a request for attorney’s fees. In Olson v. Palagi, 266 Neb. 377, 380, 665 N.W. 2d 582, 585 (2003), the court noted that the appellee “properly requested an award of attorney fees and costs in her […]