No statutory standard but traditionally 25% of the amount collected

In Landman v Ice Cream Specialties, 107 S.W.2d 240 (Mo. Banc. 2003), employee filed two claims for benefits for injuries she received at work. The Court concluded that the employer’s defense of the workers’ compensation case was frivolous. The Court further stated that attorney’s fees are awarded as part of “the whole cost of proceedings” under §287.560, when a party has brought, prosecuted or defended a workers’ compensation claim without reasonable grounds. The Court reasoned that since attorney fees are the greatest cost in the proceedings, the sanctions would be meaningless with out including legal fees. Now attorney’s fees are part of the “costs” under §287.560.

In Richards v Carr Lane Mfg., (LIRC) 2/1/01 (ALJ Percy)The Commission capped the attorney fee at $25,000 in a permanent total case when employee failed to file a brief on the employer’s appeal.

In Kuczwara v Continental Baking Co., 24 S.W.3d 712, (Mo.App. E.D. 1999), where a workers’ compensation ALJ awarded fees to an attorney who was fired by the claimant but no fees to another lawyer who withdrew before resolution of the claim, the Labor and Industrial Commission could not modify the ALJ’s fee award, under the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District rule. This was because quantum merit was the only method available to recover fees and the withdrawing attorney failed to put on any evidence regarding the nature and value of his legal service.