Federated Capital Corp. v. Haner

VOROS, Judge:

Opinion

1 1 This appeal involves the award of attorney fees pursuant to Utah's reciprocal attorney fee statute. We hold that fees should be awarded under that statute on the same basis that they would be awarded under the applicable contract provision. In particular, a court should not withhold fees in reliance on disputed allegations in the pleadings or on the ground that the prevailing party succeeded on a procedural defense without litigating the merits of the underlying claim. Applying these principles, we reverse the district court's denial of attorney fees and remand for the…