Cziraki

A successful plaintiff in a minority shareholder’s derivative action appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion for attorney fees. He contends the court’s judgment created a common fund and substantial benefit for defendant corporation, and thus the court should have awarded him fees. The trial court did not believe it could apply the common fund or substantial benefit doctrine in a derivative suit involving a close corporation with a small number of shareholders. The corporation argues the trial court was correct on that issue and even if it erred in refusing to apply these equitable doctrines, the court properly denied the motion because plaintiff failed to present competent evidence enabling the court to determine the amount of a reasonable fee award.

We conclude the trial court erred in failing to apply the common fund and substantial benefit doctrines. In an unpublished portion of the opinion, however, we find appellant’s counsel failed to produce sufficient evidence as to the amount of the fees properly attributable to the successful derivative claim as opposed to his individual causes of action. Accordingly, we reverse the order as it pertains to the…