DANIEL B. HOLT v. LAURIE L. HOLT

Daily Record Staff//July 12, 2018//

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Civil litigation — Attorney’s fees — Enforcement of consent order

On December 4, 2014, about six weeks prior to their divorce, Daniel Holt (“Appellant”) and Laurie Holt (“Appellee”) reached an agreement, which was then memorialized in a Consent Order of Court. The agreement provided that Appellant would return all of Appellee’s computer files. On June 22, 2015, Appellee filed a Petition for Contempt, alleging that Appellant violated the Consent Order by refusing to return the files. As a result of her efforts to recover the files, Appellee filed a Request for Counsel Fees and Other Relief in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County on August 28, 2015. The circuit court granted the request awarding fees and costs on October 8, 2015, and set the matter for a hearing to determine the amount of costs incurred. On March 10, 2016, the circuit court awarded Appellee reasonable attorney’s fees of $9,000 and $8,721 in expert fees, despite finding that Appellant was not in contempt. Appellant timely appealed that decision, and presents four questions for our consideration, which, for clarity, we have reduced to three and rephrased:

I. Did the trial court err by awarding attorney’s fees and expert costs to Appellee?

II. Did the trial court err in its determination of the expert cost award amount?

III. Did the trial court err by enforcing the Consent Order?

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