Day v. James Marine, Inc.

The literal language of § 928(a) provides for the award of reasonable attorney’s fees in this case regardless of whether the fees were for representation before or after “controversion.” While the provision for “reasonable fees” might be limited to fees for court work but not work done at the claim-preparation level, such an argument has been consistently rejected in numerous analogous contexts and it would be anomalous to accept such an argument here. The only basis for coming to a different conclusion in this case is the limitation in § 928 on the award of any fees to cases in which the…