Sloan v. Atlantic Richfield Company

(partially dissenting).

I dissent from the portion of the opinion pertaining to the appeal from the award of attorney’s fees. The court awarded ARCO $10,750.00 in attorney’s fees plus $822.40 in costs. It can also be assumed that Mrs. Sloan was required to pay substantial expenses incurred by her counsel even if the case was handled on a contingency fee basis.

In reviewing awards of attorney’s fees, we have stated:

[T]he matter of awarding attorney’s fees is committed to the discretion of the trial court. We shall interfere with the exercise of that discretion only where it has been abused. An…