Creditors Rights Tennessee – Page 3

Mic Drop: Happy Birthday to Me and My Law Firm

Today (August 8) is my birthday, and it’s also the three-year anniversary of when I started my own firm (well, August 7). With this post, I’ll ask you to indulge me a bit.

It’s a happy birthday toast to my law firm.

It hasn’t been a straight line, but it’s always been onward and upward. I cringe a little bit re-reading my August 2020 post announcing the move. My mission statement still rings true, but, in retrospect, I hadn’t quite run my “big plans” past the other firm (or the other other firm). I was just so excited to be building something new:

I tend to wake up, involuntarily, at 4:45 a.m. or so, to worry about whether it was the right choice and about all the work to be done to build something. Opening bank accounts. Picking office space. Hiring staff. Hiring lawyers. And, of course, doing the legal work for all the clients. And by “wake up, involuntarily,” I really mean “freak out” about what’s next.

My mistake was that I had no idea what I was looking for, until I happened to find it. It’s crazy that, 3 years ago, I typed out the above words, but it never once crossed my mind to actually start my own firm. Instead, I had spent the prior 3 years looking for, simply, a different Big Law Firm. /s/ Because everybody knows that the best way to have a voice in the big firm decisions and autonomy in your law practice is to move to a Big Law Firm. /end sarcastic voice/

Fail fast. So, I had all these big plans for an innovative way to run a law firm, and then somehow decided that I should definitely open an office for a 100 year old law firm based in a city 300 miles away. Reading that last sentence, I totally see the red flag. In reality, it took about 2 weeks. One more (brief) false start later, I decided to go Solo.

Trial and Error is sometimes the best teacher. I won’t recount the mistakes I made in the first 15 months running my own firm, but I’ll tell you that, by November 2021, I was annoyed, fed up, and ready to find the biggest law firm that needed a creditor rights expert. To that end, I met with a legal recruiter, Tara Boosey (who had an office in my building), and told her that I was sick of it, described what my dream job looked like, and told her to find it for me. Her advice? “It sounds like you already have the perfect job for you.” Not what I wanted to hear at that moment, but such great advice.

Just focus on the firm I have. Then it clicked. The work and referrals had always been there, but the unlikely encouragement really focused me on my path. A past obstacle was that clients tend to call me whenever something comes up, and I fretted about the client who maybe calls once a year for an IP referral or the other who sends me 1-2 complex commercial transactions that are way over my head. How could I help them, if I wasn’t at a huge law firm? Simple: I wouldn’t. I’d focus on exactly what I do (and do best), I’d build a network of small-law experts who I trusted, and the smart clients would appreciate a thoughtful referral to another awesome attorney.

And, then, focus even more. Even though the phone never stops ringing, I bill less hours than I used to at the big law firm. That’s because I also spend so much more doing everything else: marketing, IT, accounting, you name it. There are only so many hours in the day. If I couldn’t accept every new case, then I’d have to decide which of the clients I could help. I began to ask things like: Which clients are jerks? Which ones take forever to pay? Which ones are unreasonable? Which ones don’t listen to me? Those were the first ones to go. I call it the Client Decision Tree.

The good clients sustained the firm. Three years ago, when I announced that I was leaving my old firm, one client lost his mind, thinking he didn’t have the option to go with me. In a frantic email, he wrote “Wherever you are, that’s where I want my cases.” Needless to say, that client made the cut and has followed me through every step, through 4 different email addresses (ugh). Since August 7, 2020, I’ve opened 517 new client matters¹. Maybe I’m not as low volume as I thought; that number is surprisingly high. A large part of that (maybe 200) were old matters that followed me when my bank clients said “take everything.” (It turns out that my fears that I wouldn’t have any clients unless I stayed in a Big Law Firm were incorrect.)

Working less is a good thing. Once upon a time, no matter what the old firm’s billable minimum was, I exceeded it. Obsessively. It was unhealthy, and maybe bad lawyering. The law should be thoughtful, strategic work, and “high volume” anything does not create the best product. I had a crushing workload. Billable hour mandates are driven by expenses and overhead, and, if those could be kept in check, I believed that my new model could produce high quality work, balanced with a healthy lifestyle. So far, so good: Last year, my hours hit an all-time low, but my net income hit an all-career high.

The mission statement wasn’t entirely crazy, either. Since opening my own firm, I’ve been recognized as an Attorney for Justice by the Tennessee Supreme Court every year. I have helped a Nashville group distribute more than a million dollars in property tax protection and racial justice reparation funds. I’ve started a charitable program, Lawyers Give Back, that has supported 17 different area charities. And, yes, the firm works really hard in service of our clients. I still lose sleep worrying about my cases–there are just intentionally less of those cases to worry about.

In the end, I discovered that I had my dream job. At the old firm, I took my kids to school maybe 10 times over the course of 5 years. In the last 3 years, I bet I’ve done 300 drop-offs and pick-ups. I’m a better lawyer, and I’m also a more engaged husband and father. (After a “law firm divorce,” I can assure you that your law partners don’t actually love you like family.)

Byeonhosa Noraebang! I never took real vacations; instead, I’d tack a few extra days onto 3 day weekends here and there. This year, my family took a dream vacation, spending 3 weeks in South Korea. Our trip culminated with a great dinner with two Korean banking lawyers (and friends), who took our family to noraebang afterwards (on the 10th anniversary of BTS’s debut).

If you’ve made it this far, you may be wondering what my point is, other than a bit of bragging. That’s fair, but we should be able to authentically celebrate all sorts of successes and not just brag on LinkedIn about being a Super Lawyer.

There’s a stigma attached to being a solo lawyer, which isn’t fair. A lawyer doesn’t have to work at a big law firm to be successful or to produce sophisticated work. Three years ago, I couldn’t comprehend that, a result of years of false messaging from law schools and bar associations. Even 20 years into my own legal career, I fell for that BS, and my ignorance wasted a lot of my time.

Don’t get me wrong. Running a small firm is hard and can be a complete pain in the neck (feel free to read some of my other blog posts on that topic). I often tell people “It’s the best job on earth, and it’s the worst job on earth, but it’s never in the middle. I used to spend a lot of time in the middle.”

I also used to tell my kids that they were forbidden from ever becoming lawyers, because it was such an awful job. Not anymore. Now, for the first time, I can picture a day when one of my kids might take over the little firm.

What a three years it’s been. I’ll conclude this post with a celebratory link to BTS’s Mic Drop (a song in which South Korea’s greatest boy band encourages you to relish your successes and also to tell your haters to annyeonghi gaseyo).

Now, I’ll turn off the work email early and go enjoy a birthday dinner with my family.

A prior version of this post said 549, which is what my billing software shows and sounded bizarrely high. On further research, that included a few adminstrative / pro bono / conflict type file assignments, so I reduced the number. ↩︎

Smaller Law: Money Can Be a Bad Reason to Change Law Firms

As promised, some unsolicited career advice.

I became a lawyer for the money.

Others may talk about the prestige, a “love of the law,” and changing the world (all things I also care about). But, it’s the money that helps me slog through the piles of paperwork, arguing with other lawyers, and the nights I wake up at 2am and worry myself back to sleep.

If I won the billion dollar Powerball, I’d live a life free of interrogatories and argumentative lawyers. As a billionaire, I’d only employ lawyers who tell me “yes.”

On the topic of money, the Nashville legal job market is going through a golden age, with lawyers jumping from firm to firm like never seen before. In their rush to build a presence in Nashville, some of these law firms are offering quick cash to associates, partners, and, for a really big bag, entire law firms.

If you’re considering a move, I’ll offer some counter-intuitive advice: Never base your decision on money alone.

Some industries don’t have mathematical ways to measure the impact of superstar talent. If Bruce Willis wants $5M an episode for Moonlighting, then who’s to say that’s not what he’s worth?

The legal industry is different. Most law firms–big, medium, small, and tiny–follow the same general business model: billable hours. A lawyer’s salary usually comes down to: (1) How many hours are you billing? and (2) How much are you charging for that hour?

There’s a little bit of discretion this way or that way, but, in the end, a lawyer’s salary is a matter of math.

When a new firm offers a raise, a lawyer will probably be expected to “earn it back” (by multiples) by billing more hours and charging higher rates. Law firms don’t give money away.

I don’t trust legal recruiters for career advice, but BCG Attorney Search has an ok article, There are Only Three Reasons an Attorney Should Ever Switch Law Firms. They are: (1) You haven’t cultivated the right office relationships; (2) You aren’t getting enough work; and (3) You can upgrade to a better firm.

It’s not a terrible list. The “big picture” concepts are fine, but there are about 5 items of specific advice that make me cringe.

My own list would add: (4) Are you growing as an attorney, either via general learning (Are they mentoring you?) or developing a niche practice (Are they exposing you to a practice area or client base that you can grow into and develop?) (5) Do you like the people there and their working style (i.e. the vibe)? (6) Does your law firm value your contributions to the firm? (7) What are the future prospects for growth (i.e is the firm managed by old white guys on their way out, without any transition plan) and how could you fit into that future (i.e. is the leadership team inclusive, a small clique, or, worse, located 2-3 states away)? (8) What level of autonomy do (or would) they allow for you to grow your practice?

As you consider all of these questions, always ask yourself: Ignoring the potential raise, would things be better if I just stayed put?

Before I left my old law firm in 2020, I had spent about 2 years seriously listening to recruiters’ and law firms’ offers, and I realized that every law firm was basically the same. A little bit more money, but more hours and my rate would increase to a level that would chase off most of my clients. I’d be a stranger, though, who didn’t know how the document management system worked or where the snacks were hidden. The money wasn’t worth the hassle and couldn’t overcome my other concerns.

I declined all offers, mainly because I cherished my “F You Capital,” hard earned after nearly 13 years of high performance at the same firm. Even though I didn’t agree with the firm on many administrative things, my past success and client base had earned me a level of autonomy that was valuable to me. I had very little interest in being the “new lawyer.”

I understand that some lawyers are drastically underpaid, and many people don’t have the luxury of turning down a raise. What I’m recommending, though, is that money shouldn’t serve as a wildcard, to solve the red flag answers to the other questions.

You’ll have lots of jobs and will make good money as a lawyer, but you only have one career. Be deliberate when making the jump.

Tennessee’s Post-Judgment Interest Rate Hits Record High

Effective July 1, 2023, the statutory rate of post-judgment interest in Tennessee is 10.25%, the highest that it’s been in my 20 plus years of practice.

Long-time readers know that, in 2012, the Tennessee Legislature amended the Tennessee post-judgment interest statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-14-121.

At the time, Tennessee creditor rights attorneys complained both about the decrease in the interest rate (at the time, it dropped from 10% to 5.25%) and also the confusion related to tracking a variable rate (it changes every 6 months). Back then, none of us envisioned a world where the rate would exceed Tennessee’s old rate.

Well, welcome to the future.

What’s next? A review of the historical list of Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-14-121 interest rates shows that rates have been steadily climbing since 2016, with the greatest spike in the past year.

When the Legislature made these changes during the Great Recession, it was designed to provide relief to judgment debtors. That the rate has reached an all-time high is good for creditors, of course, but also indicative that interest rates are pushing the economy toward a tipping point.

Plaintiff Beware: General Sessions Nonsuits aren’t “Decisions” that can be appealed

If a creditor client has a claim that is close to $25,000, I’ll reccomend that the lawsuit be filed in General Sessions Court. To do that, a creditor owed $33,000 must shave its claim to fit the $25,000 limit, as a trade off for the fast pace and reduced costs.

No matter the outcome, you can always appeal the decision for “de novo” review in Circuit Court. In fact, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 27-5-108(a)(1), “[a]ny party may appeal from a decision of the general sessions court…”

If you lose? Appeal. If you win, but thought you should have won more? You can also appeal. “Any party ” means any party.

This broad right has resulted in some plaintiffs not even bringing witnesses to court. In the event that a defendant shows up with exhibits and wants a trial, the plaintiff will voluntarily dismiss the case and, then, just appeal the order of dismissal.

A new Tennessee Court of Appeals case casts this strategy in serious doubt. The Court noted that a nonsuit is a voluntary dismissal by right, at the request of the plaintiff. Walker v. Shelby Cnty. Sheriff Dep’t, No. W202200466COAR3CV, 2023 WL 3000875, at *7 (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 19, 2023). As a result, the trial court exercises no discretion and the nonsuit order is not a “decision,” as used in Tenn. Code Ann. § 27-5-108(a)(1), and is not appealable. Id.

Lawyers who represent creditors in general sessions need to take note of this. If faced with this difficult situation, voluntary dismissal remains an option, but the plaintiff must refile a new action after that voluntary dismissal.

That may not be a good option, though, for a few reasons.

Under Tenn. R. Civ. P. 41(2) limits who many times a plaintiff can voluntarily dismiss claims before losing them. Also, a plaintiff may be dealing with potentially time-barred claims, meaning that the filing date of new case would not satisfy the Tennessee statute of limitations. Finally, as a practical matter, the plaintiff may be concerned that it will never get service of process on the defendant in a later case, and plaintiff may want to get the current action pending.

In any of those situations, the creditor’s lawyer has only once good choice under Tennessee law: Try the case and force the judge to issue a ruling on the merits, which can be appealed.

Welcome to the Future: Starting on July 1, Rule 5.02 allows service of pleadings by e-mail.

Effective July 1, 2023, Tenn. R. Civ. P. 5.02(2)(a) will be modernized, so that lawyers can serve pleadings by e-mail.

I wrote about the proposed changes last year, and, in response, a number of you pointed out that Rule 5.02 already allowed service by e-mail.

Sure, you could, but the current version created a process that was three times more complicated than just printing it and mailing the pleading. Long story short, the existing Rule 5.02 wasn’t quite as simple as “service by email is allowed.”

The new Rule 5.02(a) makes it that simple: “Service on any attorney or on a party may also be made by emailing the person the document in Adobe PDF to the recipient’s email address, which shall be promptly furnished on request. The sender shall include language in the subject line designed to alert the recipient that a document is being served under this rule.”

civ_pro_amendments_approved_041423 Download

Old habits are hard to break, and there’s not much that lawyers love more than old habits. To that end, all you non-e-mailers will be happy to know that Rule 5.02 still provides three acceptable means of service of process, with service by mail remaining an option. See Tenn. R. Civ. P. 5.02(1).

I tend to assume that lawyers who send me pleadings the mail are either being sneaky (why not waste 3 days or so of the other party’s review and response time) or trying to avoid confrontation (worrying that an emailed pleading will open the door to a snarky response).

Not me. I’ll be saving some trees and sending e-mails.

As a matter of practice, I plan to continue to send full copies of pleadings via US Mail to pro se parties, even though the rule conspicuously doesn’t require different service for pro se parties.

It’s a smart amendment, which reflects how lawyers practice law in 2023.

Court of Appeals: If attorney discounts their fees, prevailing party may not be entitled to recover full amount

Much to my former law partners and book-keepers’ chagrin, I often apply courtesy discounts to my clients’ legal invoices.

It’s counter-productive to my business model. But, as a kid raised by a mom who worked at the local Piggly Wiggly and a dad who worked on an assembly line, sometimes I look at a bill, am reminded of how expensive lawyers are, and apply a small discount.

Don’t get me wrong: All my billable entries are wonderful and worth every penny. In fact, I tend to win many of my cases, including an award of attorney fees, and, when I do, I sometimes wonder whether the defendant have to pay the full amount (and not the discounted amount)?

A recent Tennessee Court of Appeals says that a court can only award what the prevailing party actually pays (or is obligated to pay). It’s at St. Paul Cmty. Ltd. P’ship v. St. Paul Cmty. Church, No. M202101548COAR3CV, 2023 WL 1860692(Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 9, 2023).

In the case, the trial court originally awarded the Church $343,535.07 in attorney fees and expenses, which were computed at the rate of $295.00 per hour. In later proceedings (after an earlier remand), the Church attorneys asked for $515,655 in attorney fees, which appeared to retroactively calculate all entries at $450 per hour.

Why? The attorney and client had a unique “side” agreement to the engagement letter, that, even though the hourly rate was $295, if they won, the attorney would ask the Court to reimburse the fees “at a higher rate than the $295/hour I’m billing the church.” There was no agreement that the Church would ever actually have to pay that higher rate.

In light of the Tennessee’s application of the “American Rule” on attorney fees, the Court of Appeals focused on the text of the underlying agreement, which required the reimbursement of attorneys fees “incurred” by the Church. “Incur,” the Court noted, means “to become liable for” or “to be legally obligated to pay.”

Here, the lawyer’s engagement letter clearly said that the Church would never be expected to actually pay that higher rate. The trial court, then, was correct in awarding the attorney fees at the $295 rate, “which were charged and paid at the $295 rate pursuant to the written engagement letter” and denying any requests that the higher rate. Id. *6.

It’s an interesting opinion, with some fairly unique facts that would never come up in most cases.

But, in the context of long-standing litigation, a few $300 or $500 “courtesy discounts” here and there over the course of a case could add up to a few thousand (or more) dollars. After a long fought legal battle, it’d be natural to have your billing software show your cumulative legal fees for your Affidavit (which would naturally output only logged time entries and not paid bills) and forget to give your adversary the benefit of those discounts.

Under this new opinion, you may be legally obliged to. So, maybe my book-keeper is right.

New Court of Appeals Opinion suggests that late-filed Answer may not prevent a default judgment

All the good Nashville lawyers I know are so busy right now. This is a good problem to have, but, nevertheless, it is a problem. There’s simply too much demand right now.

I overheard one local lawyer telling a story about a frantic call he received from a client, who was freaking out because they hadn’t filed an Answer to a lawsuit, and it had been more than 30 days after service.

“Have they filed a Motion for Default yet? If not, then it’s not late.”

I’m sure the lawyer was more tactful in the actual conversation, but the reasoning has some basis in local custom. Often, in Davidson County courts, if a defendant files an Answer before the hearing on a Motion for Default Judgment and pleads a tenable defense, a court will not grant a judgment under Tenn. R. Civ. P. 55, under the theory that the justice system prefers that “matters be decided on the merits” not a technicality. (See, generally, Discover Bank v. Morgan, 363 S.W.3d 479, 491 (Tenn. 2012)).

A recent opinion from the Tennessee Court of Appeals shows that there are risks in waiting to file an Answer.

That case is Conserv Equip. Leasing, LLC v. Schubert Enterprises, LLC, No. E2022-00535-COA-R3-CV, 2023 WL 1489768 (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 3, 2023). There, the creditor filed a motion for default, and, a few days later, received a phone call from an attorney who “expected to be retained” by the defendants and asked for a 3 week continuance on the motion hearing. After the hearing was so continued, that defense attorney “fax-filed” an Answer at 3:59pm on the Friday before the Monday morning default hearing, with an original copy filed with the Clerk about 33 minutes before the hearing.

Defendant appeared at the hearing, objecting to the relief and presumably with filed Answer in hand, but the default judgment was nevertheless granted. At the trial court level, Defendants later tried to set aside the ruling on excusable neglect grounds and Tenn. R. C. P. 60.02.

The Court of Appeals noted that “[a]lthough courts construe Rule 60.02 ‘with liberality to afford relief from a default judgment,’ the movant bears the burden of showing ‘why the movant was justified in failing to avoid the … neglect’.” Id. at *2. The Court wrote that “[i]f the court finds that the defaulting party has acted willfully, the judgment cannot be set aside on ‘excusable neglect’ grounds…” and “[m]aking ‘deliberate choices’ amounts to willful conduct. Id.

In the end, the issue was remanded back to the trial court, whose order denying the Rule 60 motion failed to include findings of act and conclusions of law (per Tenn. R. Civ. P. 52.01). In short, the trial court didn’t provide any explanation for its ruling.

To be clear, though, the Court of Appeals didn’t say the trial court was wrong; instead, it sent it back down for the trial court to provide more explanation for its refusal to set aside the judgment. The most likely outcome, of course, is that the plaintiff will prepare a properly supported proposed order, the judge will sign it, and, then, that order will be appealed.

It’ll be an interesting case to watch, but, procedurally, it’s also a reminder: Don’t delay when dealing with court deadlines.

Per the Numbers: Tennessee foreclosures are historically low, but storm clouds are forming

My banker clients are a pessimistic bunch.

That’s partially because the bankers that I deal with are in “special assets” or are the bank’s general counsel.

Long story short, they aren’t the ones at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the expensive new restaurant; nope, my clients are the ones who get called in at the end, when the loan has gone bad and we’re figuring out what to do with used restaurant equipment. My clients always notice the storm clouds on the horizon.

With that in mind, for more than a year, they’ve been predicting a tidal wave of commercial and consumer loan defaults, followed by a spike in foreclosures.

And, generally, they’ve been wrong.

In Tennessee, one recent study showed that–to date–there have only been 3,316 foreclosure sale notices published (state-wide) in 2022. That sounds like a lot, but it’s less than a third of what we had in 2017 (10,810) and 2018 (11,711).

In 2022, the most sale notices have been published in Shelby County (496), followed by Hamilton County (304), Davidson County (271), and Knox County (223). Honorable mention to Williamson County (153) and Montgomery County (132).

The 3,316 figure for 2022 is an increase from 2021 (2,169). These drop aren’t entirely COVID driven, as Tennessee had just 5,982 sale notices published in the pre-pandemic glory days of 2019.

That low volume in 2019-2020 was the result of a number of factors, including COVID-related forbearances, sky-rocketing property values, and low interest rates. And, as you know, all of those factors are disappearing.

(Side-note: We can’t be sure about COVID, of course, but I’m pretty sure we won’t see mortgage rates in the 2’s and 3’s for a very long time.)

In the end, here’s where the bankers are probably right: There’s a backlog of foreclosures, and the crush is coming soon. The bankers are correct that the sky is falling; their timing was just off by a year.

New Tennessee Court of Appeals Resolves Ten-Year Old Question about Post-Judgment Interest Rate

For nearly a decade, I’ve been writing about the Tennessee post-judgment interest statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-14-121, which was amended in 2012 to change from the long-standing fixed rate of 10% to a variable rate that changes every 6 months.

I say “writing,” but others may say “complaining.” They’d probably cite this post: What I Don’t Like About the New Post-Judgment Interest Rate Statute In Tennessee (Everything).

My initial concern was one that many Tennessee lawyers shared: Because the interest rate is subject to change every six months, will the applicable rate on an existing judgment also change every six months?

Nobody knew. Not attorneys. Not court clerks. Not even the trial court judges.

In a very helpful comment to this 2020 post about the issue, Tennessee attorney Michelle Reynolds provided the best answer I’d seen (and one that I’ve since argued):

From the TNCourts.gov website: “Beginning July 1, 2012, any judgment entered will have the interest set at two percent below the formula rate published by the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions as set in Public Chapter 1043. The rate does not fluctuate and remains in effect when judgment is entered.”

Of course, that’s not a case or a statute. It’s an “introductory paragraph on the Administrative Office of the Courts website.”

In an opinion issued last night, however, we have our answer!

In the case (Laura Coffey v. David L. Coffey, No. E2021-00433-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 11, 2022), the Tennessee Court of Appeals notes this long-standing confusion and then immediately dispels it.

In its analysis, the Court notes that the rate to be applied under Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-14-121(a) is clear and unambiguous (it’s math), and it’s the entirely separate provision at Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-14-121(b) that introduces fluctuations in the general rate. Noting the clarity in (a), the Court finds that (b) does not create ambiguity as to existing judgments.

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-14-121(a), the Court writes, the “applicable post-judgment interest rate does not fluctuate when applied to a particular judgment; instead, it remains the same for the entire period of time following entry of the judgment…until the judgment is paid.”

It’s always a great day when an unresolved issue gets clarity. Sometimes I make a joke that only “law nerds” will appreciate a legal development like this; for this one, though, I think all Tennessee lawyers will benefit from this opinion.

Tennessee Judgments Always Incur Post-Judgment Interest

A good rule of thumb for prevailing parties in litigation is this: If you want something, be sure to include that in the court order.

Well, duh. The Judge can’t give it to you if it’s not expressly written in the order.

A recent opinion from the Tennessee Court of Appeals (Hartigan v. Brush, No. E202001442COAR3CV, 2021 WL 4983075 (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 27, 2021)), however, makes clear that post-judgment interest applies on all monetary judgments in Tennessee, no matter if the order expressly says so.

There, the Court noted that, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-14-122, “Interest shall be computed on every judgment…,” and, as a result, post-judgment interest is “mandatory.”

It’s an issue that’s unlikely to come up often, partially because every prevailing party generally includes an express grant in their judgment. But, when the order doesn’t expressly say it, have this recent case ready to go.