Centrix Management Co., LLC v. Fosberg

Summary

The court held that when a lease permits a commercial party to recover attorney's fees only up to a specified dollar cap, a prevailing consumer's fee award ordinarily must be based on that same contractual limitation. A court may award reasonable fees above the cap only after determining that applying the cap is impracticable because it would not achieve equity or fairness, and the consumer bears the burden of demonstrating that circumstance. Because the trial court awarded fees above the cap without making that threshold determination, the court vacated the award and remanded for a new hearing.