Childress v. Trion, Inc.

EAGLES, Judge.

The first issue is whether the Industrial Commission abused its discretion in awarding plaintiff attorney fees for successfully defending his appeal pursuant to G.S. 97-88. Defendants argue that the reasonableness of defendants’ prior appeal should be considered by this Court upon review of the award of attorney fees. We respectfully disagree.

An abuse of discretion standard of review is applied in an award of attorney fees by the Industrial Commission. Taylor v. J.P. Stevens & Co., 307 N.C. 392, 298 S.E.2d 681 (1983). In a recent decision of this Court, Brown v. Public Works…