17
Petitioners separately asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to “transfer” consideration of their fee motion to the trial court if—as they argued—the motion
should have been filed in the trial court in the first
place. Pet. 7. However, neither the Arkansas Rules of
Appellate Procedure nor the Rules of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals provide for the
“transfer” of motions from an appellate court to the
trial court. There is no basis under Arkansas law for a
party to file a motion in the wrong court, while asking
that court to correct the party’s procedural mistake.
Moreover, by the time Petitioners’ fee motion and
transfer motion were submitted to and decided by the
Arkansas Supreme Court, Petitioners’ time to file a fee
motion in the correct court—the trial court—had already run. Petitioners’ fee motion was accordingly
properly denied.
The trial court subsequently agreed, noting that
“[t]he actions of [Petitioners’] counsel indicate that she
is totally unfamiliar with the Rules of Civil Procedure
and the Rules of Appellate Procedure relating to procedural matters involving the award of attorney’s
fees.” Supp. App. 21. “It facially appears that the [Petitioners’] request at the appellate level was denied because it was procedurally improper, that all of the
requested fees and costs should have been submitted
to this court for a factual determination, and that . . .
the [Petitioners] have forfeited their ability to request
the award of any additional fees or costs by not
properly and timely submitting them to this court for
adjudication.” Supp. App. 26.