Knappmiller v. Bove

Summary

The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed the denial of attorney’s fees and litigation costs sought by a tree-service contractor under implied indemnification. The court held that an award under Vermont’s Albright exception requires evidence of underlying culpability, and that the jury’s finding of no liability and no wrongful conduct did not support indemnification.

Holdings

1. Attorney's fees and litigation expenses are not available under Vermont's implied-indemnity exception absent evidence of some underlying culpability or wrongful act by the putative indemnitor. Because the jury found neither the Boves nor Vaillancourt liable for wrongful cutting, the trial court properly denied Vaillancourt's fee request.
2. Windsor did not abandon the wrongful-act or underlying-culpability requirement for common-law implied indemnity; it addressed a distinct strict-liability setting and does not extend to a case in which the jury specifically found no fault, liability, or underlying responsibility.

Questions Presented

1. Whether attorney's fees and litigation expenses may be awarded under Vermont's implied-indemnity exception when the jury found the putative indemnitor neither liable nor responsible for a wrongful act in the underlying action.
2. Whether Windsor School District v. State eliminated the requirement that some underlying culpability or wrongful act be shown before attorney's fees may be awarded under the implied-indemnity exception.

Disposition

affirmed