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Kent v. Mitchell

The trial court erred in substantively modifying a $2.5K arbitration award for attorneys' fees when it changed the party against whom the award was made from the attorney's professional corporation to the attorney individually.

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The trial court granted Tina Mitchell’s application to confirm an attorney fee arbitration award against Jeffrey B. Kent and entered judgment against Kent in the amount of $2,500.1 On appeal, Kent claims that the trial court erred by substantively modifying the arbitration award when it changed the party against whom the award was made from his professional corporation to him individually. We agree and therefore reverse.

According to Kent, Mitchell engaged the law firm Jeffrey B. Kent, P.C. in connection with a business dispute and paid a retainer of $2,500. At some point, Mitchell requested that her retainer be returned. When that did not happen, Mitchell filed a petition for fee arbitration with the State Bar of Georgia. In an award dated February 20, 2009, the arbitrators ruled in her favor and awarded a refund of her $2,500 retainer. Mitchell then filed an application to confirm the arbitration award pursuant to the State Bar of Georgia’s Fee Arbitration Rules and OCGA § 9-9-12, and that application was granted. The issue on appeal is whether the trial court substantively modified the award by changing the party against whom the award was originally entered.

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