Opinion
Record No. 0029-95-4
Decided: May 30, 1994
FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION
Affirmed.
(Atiq R. Ahmed, on brief), for appellant. Appellant submitting on brief.
No brief for appellees.
Present: Judges Koontz, Bray and Senior Judge Hodges
Pursuant to Code Sec. 17-116.010 this opinion is not designated for publication.
Atiq R. Ahmed, attorney for Jose Alonzo Flores, deceased, and his beneficiaries, appeals a decision of the Workers' Compensation Commission which denied Ahmed's petition for attorney's fees of $12,000. Finding no error, we affirm the decision.
"Code Sec. 65.1-102 [now Code Sec. 65.2-714] provides that the fees of attorneys shall be subject to the approval and award of the Commission." Hudock v. Industrial Comm'n, 1 Va. App. 474, 477, 340 S.E.2d 168, 171 (1986). In assessing Ahmed's petition, the commission properly considered, inter alia, the absence of significant dispute among the parties, the absence of any appreciable benefit to Flores or his beneficiaries resulting from Ahmed's services, and the substantial time expended by Ahmed on non-legal matters. See id. at 478-79, 340 S.E.2d at 171. These factors, together with the entire record, provide ample support for limiting the award of attorney's fees to $500.
As the commission correctly noted, Ahmed had been awarded $600 in attorney's fees at the time the award for death benefits was entered by the commission on June 17, 1994.
Accordingly, for the reasons set forth in the commission's opinion, we find no abuse of discretion by the commission and affirm the decision.
Affirmed.