National City Mortgage Company v. Carolyn A. Adams

**What Happened** National City Mortgage Company sued employee Carolyn Adams over a loan agreement dispute. The company claimed Adams breached her contract and sought to recover their attorney's fees from her under a provision in the loan agreement that required the losing party to pay the winner's legal costs. **What the Court Decided** The court ruled in favor of Adams. A jury found that National City Mortgage had not actually breached the loan agreement and had not violated debt collection laws. More importantly, the appeals court upheld the trial court's decision to deny the company's request for attorney's fees. The court determined that the indemnity clause in the loan agreement—which would have required Adams to pay the company's legal costs—didn't apply to disputes directly between the two parties themselves. **Why This Matters for Workers** This case shows that employers can't automatically collect attorney's fees from employees just because a contract contains an indemnity clause. Courts will carefully examine whether such clauses actually apply to the specific type of dispute. Workers facing contract disputes with employers should know that winning the underlying case may not be enough—the fee-shifting provisions must also be legally enforceable under the circumstances.