Tagupa v. VIPDesk
Annotate this CasePlaintiff filed a complaint against Defendant in a state district court and later moved to dismiss the case. The district court granted the motion to dismiss without prejudice and awarded Defendant attorney’s fees pursuant to Hawai’i District Rules of Civil Procedure 41(a)(2), which grants a trial court discretion to impose attorney’s fees as a term or condition of voluntary dismissal. Plaintiff appealed, arguing that the district court erred in granting attorney’s fees before the merits of the case had been decided and before a prevailing party was properly identified. The intermediate court of appeals (ICA) affirmed, concluding that the district court did not err in awarding Defendant attorney’s fees in order to alleviate any prejudice resulting from the dismissal. The Supreme Court vacated the lower courts’ judgments and the award of attorney’s fees and costs, holding that the district court abused its discretion by (1) not providing Plaintiff with an opportunity to choose between accepting this condition or withdrawing her motion to dismiss; and (2) failing to evaluate and make findings on whether the award and amount of attorney’s fees and costs accords substantial justice to both parties.
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