Bahta v. Mohammed

NADIA GIHAR BAHTA v. MOHAMMED SEID MOHAMMED

Record No. 1625-18-4

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

JUNE 25, 2019

UNPUBLISHED

Present: Judges Huff, O'Brien and Senior Judge Haley

Argued at Fredericksburg, Virginia

MEMORANDUM OPINION^* BY JUDGE MARY GRACE O'BRIEN

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF FAIRFAX COUNTY

Brett A. Kassabian, Judge

Timothy Bryan Beason (Dipti Pidikiti-Smith; Walewska Marie Watkins; Legal Services of Northern Virginia, on brief), for appellant.

No brief or argument for appellee.

Amici Curiae: Virginia Poverty Law Center; National Legal Aid & Defender Association (James Wilson Speer; Virginia Poverty Law Center, on brief), for appellant.

Nadia Gihar Bahta ("mother") appeals a decision by the Fairfax County Circuit Court ("circuit court") denying her request to assess attorney's fees against Mohammed Seid Mohammed ("father"), after his unsuccessful attempt to modify custody and visitation of the parties' children. Because we find the court incorrectly concluded that Code § 16.1-278.19 "barred" it from awarding attorney's fees, we reverse.

BACKGROUND

Mother and father, who never married, are the parents of two minor children. On April 9, 2015, in a matter appealed from the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court("JDR court"), the circuit court entered an agreed order of custody and visitation for the parties' children. Mother received primary physical custody of the children, with father having specific visitation rights.

On May 31, 2017, mother obtained a two-year protective order against father that precluded him from contacting her except for "emergencies and to facilitate visitation." The order's provisions allowed father to maintain his visitation schedule and "have contact with the children at school but only when mother is not present."

On August 23, 2017, father filed a motion to modify custody and visitation. He sought primary physical custody of the children and limited visitation with mother. In his motion, father represented that he "[did] not know of any proceeding that could affect the current proceeding, including . . . protective orders."

Trial occurred on August 1, 2018. At the time, both parties were represented by counsel. Mother's attorney was employed by Legal Services of Northern Virginia ("LSNV"). Mother's representation agreement with LSNV provided that "[i]f this case involves collection of attorney's fees, I specifically authorize LSNV to pursue collection of these attorney's fees. I agree that any attorney's fees will be payable to LSNV."

At the conclusion of the evidence, the court denied father's motion, finding no material change of circumstance and that modification was not in the best interests of the children. The court declined to award either party attorneys' fees, evenly divided the cost of preparing the transcript, and continued the matter for a hearing to enter a final order. Both attorneys were instructed to attend.

Two days later, father filed a pro se "emergency motion" to change the children's school enrollment. Following an August 10, 2018 hearing, a different circuit court judge denied father's motion as "frivolous and in violation of [Code §] 8.01-271.1," prohibited father from filing anyadditional motions without the court's permission, and ordered him to pay mother's attorney's fees of $500.

On September 21, 2018, the parties and their counsel appeared in court for entry of the final order from the August 1, 2018 trial. Mother asked the court to reconsider the issue of attorney's fees under Code § 16.1-278.19. Mother's counsel presented an affidavit of attorney's fees and stated that "[LSNV] incur[s] expenses but we don't charge our clients anything." The court denied the request, stating as follows:

I'm relying specifically on the language in [Code §] 16.1-278.19 that uses the word[s] "on behalf of any party." It does not state "on behalf of a non-profit representing the part[y] based upon [a] representation that she received the benefit of [its] expertise at those costs.["] . . . [T]he statute bars me from - and, regardless, I decline to award fees.

However, the court did order father to bear the entire cost of preparing the transcript.

ANALYSIS

Statutory interpretation "presents a pure question of law and is accordingly subject to de novo review." Reineck v. Lemen, 292 Va. 710, 721 (2016) (quoting Washington v. Commonwealth, 272 Va. 449, 455 (2006)). Generally, appellate courts review decisions to award attorneys' fees for an abuse of discretion. Lambert v. Sea Oats Condo. Ass'n, Inc., 293 Va. 245, 252 (2017). Because a court "by definition abuses its discretion when it makes an error of law," Leonard v. Commonwealth, 39 Va. App. 134, 148 (2002), we review its conclusions of law de novo "to determine that the discretion was not guided by erroneous legal conclusions," Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81, 100 (1996).

Thus, "the abuse-of-discretion standard includes review to determine that the [exercise of] discretion was not guided by erroneous legal conclusions, because a court . . . abuses its discretion if it inaccurately ascertains [the] outermost limits" of the range of choice available to it. . . . [T]he boundary of the range of choice available to the court is itself a relevant factor for the court to consider whenexercising its discretion. . . . This is true whether the boundary is fixed by precedent or statute.

Lambert, 293 Va. at 253 (emphasis added) (quoting Lawlor v. Commonwealth, 285 Va. 187, 213 (2013)).

Resolution of this case is determined by our interpretation of Code § 16.1-278.19, which provides as follows:

In any manner properly before the court, the court may award attorneys' fees and costs on behalf of any party as the court deems appropriate based on the relative financial ability of the parties.

The statute is a departure from the default "American Rule" in Virginia, where each party pays its own attorney's fees, and the prevailing party cannot usually recover fees from the non-prevailing party. See Reineck, 292 Va. at 721 ("[A]bsent a specific contractual or statutory provision to the contrary, attorney's fees are not recoverable by a prevailing litigant from the losing litigant." (quoting Chacey v. Garvey, 291 Va. 1, 8 (2015))).

In denying mother's request for attorney's fees, the court relied "specifically" on the language in Code § 16.1-278.19, "on behalf of any party." It noted that the statute "does not say 'on behalf of a non-profit representing the part[y] based upon [a] representation that she received the benefit of its expertise at those costs.'" The court determined it was "bar[red]" from awarding attorney's fees because mother did not incur fees and any award would effectively be "on behalf of" LSNV rather than "on behalf of any party." The court thus construed Code § 16.1-278.19 as a prohibition against awarding attorneys' fees to parties represented by non-profit legal organizations that do not charge clients for their services.

"When interpreting statutory language that 'is plain and unambiguous, we are bound by the plain meaning of the statutory language.'" Coles v. Commonwealth, 44 Va. App. 549, 557 (2004) (quoting Beck v. Shelton, 267 Va. 482, 488 (2004)). In this circumstance, "we are not permitted to 'add or to subtract from the words used in the statute.'" Id. (quoting Posey v. Commonwealth, 123Va. 551, 553 (1918)). "We must also assume that the legislature chose, with care, the words it used when it enacted the relevant statute." Barr v. Town & Country Props., Inc., 240 Va. 292, 295 (1990). See also Anderson v. Commonwealth, 182 Va. 560, 566 (1944) ("Courts are not permitted to rewrite statutes. This is a legislative function.").

Code § 16.1-278.19 gives a court discretion to award attorneys' fees as it "deems appropriate" and when three express requirements are met: (1) the matter is "properly before the court;" (2) the award is "on behalf of any party;" and (3) the award is "based on the relative financial ability of the parties." There is no dispute that the matter was "properly before" the circuit court because it originated in the JDR court. See Fairfax Cty. Dep't of Human Dev. v. Donald, 251 Va. 227, 229 (1996). The court did not determine the parties' "relative financial ability" because it ruled that as an initial matter, it lacked authority to award attorney's fees to a party represented by a non-profit organization providing legal services without charge. Therefore, the issue is whether an award of attorney's fees would be "on behalf of any party," even though mother did not incur fees and would have to remit the award to LSNV.

The phrase "attorneys' fees and costs on behalf of any party" does not require that the party actually incur attorneys' fees or demonstrate a need to be personally compensated.¹ Instead, the phrase contemplates that an award may be appropriate when attorneys' fees have been expended in the course of legal representation. Here, LSNV did not charge mother for its legal services. Nevertheless, the legal services were not free from the perspective of LSVN; they were provided at the cost of decreasing the services available for other clients. Therefore, an award of fees would compensate LSNV for the resources expended "on behalf of" mother, which accords with the plainmeaning of the statute. We will not read additional requirements into Code § 16.1-278.19. See Coles, 44 Va. App. at 557. See also Lynchburg Div. of Soc. Servs. v. Cook, 276 Va. 465, 484 (2008) (reversing the denial of attorneys' fees under Code § 16.1-278.19 where the decision was not based on "the statutory factor of the 'relative financial ability of the parties,'" but on a "non-statutory standard . . . [that] the position of [the opposing party] was not unreasonable"). If the General Assembly wanted to foreclose fee awards in cases involving legal aid organizations under Code § 16.1-278.19, it could have expressly done so. See Brinn v. Tidewater Transp. Dist. Comm'n, 242 F.3d 227, 232-34 (4th Cir. 2001) (const...