A recent NLJ story, “Split Outcome to Contract Beef Means No One Gets Attorney Fees,” reports that a federal appeals court nixed competing $2.7 million and $1.3 million in attorney fees and cost requests in a contract dispute between beverage companies that generate just more than $1 million in judgments.  In Southern Wine and Spirits v. Mountain Valley Spring Valley Co., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit affirmed Western District of Arkansas Judge Jimm Larry Hendren’s March 2012 denial of attorney fees to either side.  The Eight Circuit agreed with Hendren that the case produced no “prevailing party” because each side won “sizable jury awards by prevailing on significant issues.”

The underlying case was a contract dispute between bottled water company Mountain Valley and regional distributor.  Southern won a $819,000 judgment against Mountain Valley for breach of contract and breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, plus an extra $42,000 for Mountain Valley’s failure to pay an account.  Mountain Valley won an $183,000 judgment against Southern on its breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing counterclaim.

Southern sought $2.7 million in fees and costs for its lawyers at Texarkana’s Haltom & Doan and its of-counsel firm, Los Angeles-based Korshak, Kracoff, Kong & Sugano.  Mountain Valley’s lawyers at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Ark., countered with a request for $1.3 million in fees and costs if the court awarded fees to Southern.

The Eight Circuit wrote that, “where the district court declined to find even that Southern was a prevailing party, Southern asserts no facts to support its contention that it merited an award of attorney’s fees.”  The ruling went on to conclude: “Because we affirm the denial of attorney’s fees to Southern, we need not discuss Mountain Valley’s protective claim for its own attorney’s fees.”