When the parties judgment on a homeowner association lien included a provision to recover additional costs and attorney fees reasonably incurred in collecting on the judgment, the trial court erred in not considering the reasonableness of the requested post-judgment attorney fees.
In Great Lakes Shores, Inc. v. Jevahirian, an unpublished court of appeals opinion, the court of appeals remanded the case to the trial court to consider the reasonableness of the requested attorney fees. The trial court had denied the request without considering the necessary factors.
Readers of this blog may remember that a prior court of appeals opinion involving Great Lakes Shores held that a summer resort association could recover attorney fees pursuant to its bylaws, even though attorney fees were not provided for in the declaration of restrictions.
This case stands for the proposition that post-judgment attorney fees are recoverable; however, the opinion should be read carefully, because the court held that the bylaw provision which allowed attorney fees was merged with the judgment, and it was only the judgment language which allowed post-judgment fees to be collected which granted the right to recover.