3432 WEST HENDERSON BUILDING, LLC v. GIZYNSKI

(Court opinion corrected 7/5/17.) Plaintiffs succeeded in a lawsuit against Defendant for default on a note and mortgage. On appeal, Defendant argued that the Court improperly ordered it to pay one of the Plaintiff’s attorney’s fees, because the Plaintiff abandoned its foreclosure proceedings. Under Section 15-1510 of the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law, which governs attorney’s fees in mortgage foreclosure proceedings, the terms of the mortgage at issue govern attorney’s fee disputes. Neither the note nor mortgage at issue required legal action to be successful to recover attorney’s fees, therefore fees were proper even though the proceeding was abandoned. Defendant also argued that the Court should have held an evidentiary hearing on the fee request. The Court was not required to hold a hearing regarding attorney’s fees, because a hearing is unnecessary where proof can be made on the basis of pleadings or trial evidence. Plaintiff cross-appealed asking the court to reverse the lower court’s denial of its motion for leave to file a petition for fees incurred defending Plaintiff on a motion to reconsider that the Defendant filed before the appeal. The Court was required to provide a reason for its denial, which it did not, and thus it must reconsider the motion and explain why Plaintiff is not entitled to those attorney’s fees.