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matrimonial judge in New Jersey was out of line when he capped legal fees at $50,000 for each side in a divorce case because he was offended by the sums charged, a state appeals court ruled Nov. 30.

Essex County Superior Court Judge Thomas Zampino imposed the limit sua sponte after remarking that $148,606 in fees for the plaintiff and $81,394 for the defendant were “shocking” in a “cut and dry” case.

But the Appellate Division found that Zampino had no authority to decide on the reasonableness of the fee that a lawyer charged her own client. “When a court enters judgment on a matter not properly before it, the judgments are not merely erroneous: they would be absolutely void; because the court in rendering them would transcend the limits of authority in those cases,” the court said in McClutchy v. McClutchy, A-5951-08.

The fee issue arose in September 2008 after Zampino completed a three-day trial in the divorce action brought by Jane McClutchy against Harold McClutchy. Each party moved for an award of counsel fees from the other party under Rule 5:3-5(c), which gives a Family Part judge discretion to award fees to a prevailing party.

via Law.com – Divorce Judge Wrongly Reduced ‘Shocking’ Legal Fees, Appellate Court Finds.