In this civil action, Shelby Outlaw d/b/a The Outlaw Firm, P.C., an attorney, brought suit against Dr. Vincent Vaughters to collect an unpaid legal bill for services rendered when Outlaw represented Vaughters in a domestic relations matter. Upon failure of Vaughters to timely answer, the trial court entered a default judgment in favor of Outlaw, awarding her the entire amount of the unpaid legal bill, interest, attorney fees associated with her collection efforts under the terms of a contract for legal representation, and declaratory relief. Vaughters appeals the award set forth in the default judgment, arguing that the trial court erred in i awarding damages without conducting a trial and hearing evidence on that issue, ii awarding attorney fees related to Outlaw’s collection efforts, and iii granting declaratory relief. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the damages and the declaratory relief awarded by the default judgment, but we vacate the attorney fees awarded pursuant to OCGA § 13-1-11 because that statute is not applicable to this matter and remand the case to the trial court for a proper determination of attorney fees. The record shows that on September 14, 2006, Vaughters hired Outlaw to provide him with legal representation in a child visitation modification matter initiated by Vaughters’s former wife. Pursuant to that hiring, Vaughters immediately paid Outlaw a $5,000 retainer using his credit card and signed an “Agreement for Legal Representation.”1 The agreement set forth Outlaw’s billing rates and further authorized Outlaw to seek attorney fees from Vaughters related to any collection efforts made necessary by his failure to keep current his account with the Outlaw Law Firm. Thereafter, Outlaw represented Vaughters in the visitation modification action until that matter was resolved in July 2007. Outlaw then closed Vaughters’s account and notified him that his total balance due above the $5,000 retainer which he had previously paid was $11,736.46. On July 25, 2007, Vaughters emailed Outlaw to inform her that he wished to pay his legal bill with his credit card that was on file with her law firm. Based on this authorization, Outlaw charged Vaughters’s credit card for the balance due on his account. However, on October 5, 2007, Vaughters contacted his credit card company and stopped payment on the charge for Outlaw’s legal services. On the same day, Vaughters notified Outlaw by letter that he was disputing the charge for legal services based on his dissatisfaction with Outlaw’s failure to seek attorney fees from Vaughters’s former wife upon resolution of the visitation modification case.
Consequently, Outlaw filed suit, seeking to collect the $11,736.46 for legal services rendered, interest, attorney fees related to the cost of collection, and a declaratory judgment that there was no legal basis for seeking attorney fees from Vaughters’s former wife in connection with the visitation modification case. Vaughters was served with Outlaw’s complaint on October 26, 2007. On November 20, 2007, Vaughters filed a motion for extension of time to answer Outlaw’s complaint, arguing that he had petitioned the State Bar to arbitrate the fee dispute and that he should not be required to file an answer until the completion of arbitration. Although Vaughters’s answer was due on November 25, 2007, he did not file an answer by that date. Vaughters failed to file an answer and motion to open the default and pay the costs in order to open the default as a matter of right under OCGA § 9-11-55a. On December 11, 2007, Outlaw filed a motion for default judgment. A week later, Vaughters filed a response to Outlaw’s motion for default judgment and also filed an untimely answer. However, he did not file a motion to open the default, nor did he pay outstanding costs at that time. Shortly after filing his untimely answer, Vaughters received a letter from the State Bar, notifying him that his fee dispute could not be arbitrated because it was already being litigated. Nevertheless, on December 31, 2007, Vaughters filed a motion for continuance to arbitrate, in which Vaughters once again argued that he had petitioned the State Bar to have the fee dispute arbitrated but failed to disclose that he had been informed by the State Bar that it had no jurisdiction to arbitrate a dispute that was then being litigated. Outlaw filed a response to Vaughters’s motion and moved to strike his untimely answer.
