Madison County Department of Human Resources v. T.s., by Her Mother and Next Friend F.m., and F.m.

Summary

The court held that the trial court abused its discretion by awarding counsel one-third of the entire settlement as compensation for representing the minor, because the record did not support that fee under the relevant reasonableness factors. It affirmed the litigation expenses and the uncontested fee attributable to the mother's recovery, but determined that counsel's reasonable fee for representing T.S. was 20% of T.S.'s portion of the settlement and remanded for entry of a consistent judgment. Justice Woodall, dissenting, agreed that the original fee was excessive but would have remanded for further proceedings to develop an adequate factual basis rather than fixing the fee at 20%.