Delaware Supreme Court Holds Door Open for Loser to Pay

Justice Jacobs delivered the panel decision which reversed a Superior Court denial of a request for attorney fees. The Court describes the "american rule" which generally requires each side to bear its own costs of litigation, and then holds that the lower court took too narrow of a reading of the "bad faith" exception.

In this case, where the contractor bulldozed down the historical buildings despite the denial of his application for a permit to do so, the Court was hard pressed to think of a worse example of bad faith.

The matter was remanded for Superior Court to take a new look at the request for fees by the Historical Society.

Photo by News Journal file/SCOTT NATHAN

This is Michael Zimmerman's method of dispute resolution. Remind me never to do business with him.