People's United Bank v. Patio Gardens III, LLC

Summary

In this mortgage foreclosure action, the Appellate Division, Second Department reversed an order and amended judgment awarding the plaintiff $75,000 in unapportioned attorney's fees. The court held that the Supreme Court violated the law-of-the-case doctrine by failing to determine which fees were attributable to each property and that the plaintiff failed to establish the reasonableness of the fees requested.

Holdings

1. The Supreme Court violated the law of the case doctrine by awarding attorney's fees without determining which fees were attributable to work performed to foreclose the mortgage related to each property.
2. The plaintiff failed to meet its burden of proving the reasonableness of the requested attorney's fees because it did not provide evidence showing which fees were attributable to each parcel.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Supreme Court violated the law of the case doctrine by awarding attorney's fees without determining which fees related to each property.
2. Whether the plaintiff met its burden of proving the reasonableness of the requested attorney's fees.

Disposition

reversed