Opinion
No. DA 13–0072.
2013-11-6
MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. AMERICAN BANK OF MONTANA, a Montana Corporation, Defendant and Appellee.
¶ 13 I concur in the remainder of the Court's Opinion. I add that I stand by my Dissent in Am. Bank of Montana I. I urge the Court to abandon its requirement that fees be assessed based upon the “hourly rates typical or common for a non-specific attorney's services in the county in which the trial is held,” Am. Bank of Montana I, ¶ 14, (emphasis added), and allow consideration by district courts of the Forrester v. Boston & Mont. Consol. Copper & Silver Mining Co., 29 Mont. 397, 409, 74 P. 1088, 1093 (1904) factors when assessing the reasonableness and necessity of attorney fees in condemnation cases.