Lockhart v. NAI Elite, LLC

Citations

• 209 Conn. App. 308

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought to recover unpaid commissions and hourly wages from the defendants pursuant to the applicable statutes (§§ 31-72 and 31-68). The defendants raised three special defenses and filed a five count counterclaim. Following a trial to the court, judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff as to his claims under § 31-72 and as to the defen- dant's counterclaim, but in favor of the defendant as to the plaintiff's claims under § 31-68. The trial court determined that the plaintiff was entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees, and subsequently awarded the plaintiff the full amount of attorney's fees that he had sought. The defendants appealed to this court, claiming that the award of attorney's fees was excessive and unreasonable given that the plaintiff was only partially successful on his claims. Held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding the plaintiff the full amount of his attorney's fees: the court considered all twelve of the discretionary factors normally applied in determining a reasonable attorney's fee, and determined that the amount of the award sought by the plaintiff was reasonable, as the plaintiff not only prevailed on his case-in-chief but also successfully defended against three special defenses and a five count counterclaim; moreover, although the plaintiff did not prevail on all of his claims, all of his claims were interrelated. Argued October 20—officially released December 14, 2021