Brennan v. La Tourelle Apartments

The majority concludes that defendant is the prevailing party for purposes of an award of attorney fees under ORS 90.255 because the court dismissed plaintiffs action to recover his personal property from defendant. In its view, it does not matter that the trial court dismissed the action as moot on the ground that plaintiff had recovered his property independently of the action. I respectfully disagree. Although dismissal of an action normally makes the defendant the prevailing party in it, that is not necessarily the case when the dismissal occurs because events independent of the action…