Potato in three forms. Ann Rosener, photographer. Feb. 1943. Library of Congress.
Will Idaho Losers Spudder With Fear?
Our friend, appellate specialist Ben Shatz at Manatt, informs us: Betsy Z. Russell of The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington has an article that begins, "The Idaho Supreme Court has launched the state’s entire court system on a new track that might be called ‘loser pay’ — you lose a case, you pay the other side’s attorney fees. No other state in the nation has gone this route, and the Supreme Court’s 3-2 ruling, issued this fall, has Idaho’s legal community in an uproar." The Idaho case is Hoffer v. Shappard, Op. No. 105 *18 (Id. 2016).
The Idaho Supreme Court case announces the application of the new standard:
“[W]e take this opportunity to announce that the courts of this state will apply a different standard to claims for attorney fees under the statute, effective March 1, 2017. The future standard to be applied is that which the Legislature has specified.
Idaho Code section 12-121 provides:
In any civil action, the judge may award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party or parties, provided that this section shall not alter, repeal or amend any statute which otherwise provides for the award of attorney’s fees. The term “party” or “parties” is defined to include any person, partnership, corporation, association, private organization, the state of Idaho or political subdivision thereof.”That’s one way to clear up civil court calendars!
And now here is an offering from the late Peter Viereck’s poem, “To a sinister potato”:
"In each Kiwanis Club on every plate,
So bland and health exuding do we wait
That Indiana never, never knows
How much we envy stars and hate the rose."Some doom will strike (as all potatoes know)
When-once too often mashed in Idaho-
From its cocoon the drabbest of earth’s powers
Rises and is a star.
And shines.
And lours."