Cases | Daniels v. Vt. Ctr. for Crime Victims Servs., 790 A.2d 376 | 2018
The plaintiff victim received $10,000 from the defendant Center for Crime Victims Services upon the condition that she repay the defendant if she received damages from the party responsible for her injuries. After receiving damages from the perpetrator’s employer in a civil action, the victim offered to repay the defendant only if it paid a proportionate share of attorney’s fees under the common fund exception to the American Rule on attorney’s fees. The trial court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss, and the plaintiff appealed. The court held that: (1) the wording of Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 5357 clearly means that the victim must repay the full amount of payment upon receipt of damages from a party responsible for injury in an amount greater than the payment. The statute makes no provision for payment of the victim’s attorney’s fees in a civil action to recover damages in connection with the crime; (2) section 5357 does not require payment of a proportionate share of attorney’s fees as a matter of fairness. The common fund doctrine is a judicially created, equitable exception to the rule that attorney’s fees cannot be collected from another party, and the court will apply it only where principles of equity and policy require it; and (3) the plaintiff was not entitled to develop a record that application of the common fund doctrine was appropriate. In view of the ruling that § 5357 precludes application of the doctrine, no facts or circumstances would make a difference in the outcome.