Page:Parker v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co.pdf/14

1086   On cross-appeal, Farm Bureau contends that the trial court abused its discretion by awarding the appellant $10,676 in attorney's fees on a claim valued at only $1,646. Parker's attorney submitted a bill to the trial court for attorney's fees in the amount of $16,096. Pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 23-79-208 (Repl. 1992), which provides for attorney's fees in loss claims, the trial court awarded $10,676 in fees, reducing the requested amount by one-third. The trial court found it significant that the matter was vigorously defended on both the bad-faith and notice issue, noting that the issues were "intricately connected," and difficult to separate from one another. The trial court also made the following findings:

"The court is convinced that some of the effort of Mr. Streetman in this case was directed toward the bad faith claim, which is a tort action rather than a contract action. The court's opinion, based on what it has seen in handling the case to date, is that the claim for attorney's fees should be reduced by one-third"

"The court is not unmindful that this figure is approximately five times the amount recovered, which is one of the factors to be consider in setting attorney's fees. However, it is not the only factor, and when the time spent by Mr. Streetman and the considerable vigour [sic] of the defense on the notice claim is measured in to the equation, the court finds the fee set reasonable."

[9] On appeal, Parker argues that the fee should not have been reduced, and on cross-appeal, Farm Bureau asserts that the fee should have been further reduced by another third. In this regard, we have said that due to the trial court's superior acquaintance with the record and the quality of the service rendered, we will usually defer to the trial court's superior perspective in awarding attorney's fees and will reverse only when there has been an abuse of discretion. Gill v. Transcriptions, Inc., 319 Ark. 485, 892 S.W.2d 258 (1995).

[10] In ''Old Republic Ins. Co. v. Alexander'', 245 Ark. 1029, 436 S.W.2d 829 (1969), this court upheld a $6,000 fee on a $51,000 recovery under Ark. Stat. Ann. § 66-3239. We stated that the amount of the fee should not be such that attorneys would avoid the type of litigation, or fail to sufficiently prepare, that the fee