[¶ 1] Homeward Residential, Inc., (Homeward) appeals from a judgment entered in the District Court (Belfast, R. Murray, J.) ordering it to pay Marianne A Gregor’s legal fees and costs pursuant to 14 M.R.S. § 6101 (2016) after dismissal of Homeward’s foreclosure action against Gregor without prejudice. Homeward argues that because it did not have standing to bring the foreclosure action, it is not “the mortgagee” within the meaning of section 6101, and the court therefore could not order it to pay Gregor’s attorney fees pursuant to that statute. In the alternative, Homeward argues that the court abused its discretion in setting the amount of fees owed and by including in that amount fees Gregor incurred pursuing an appeal. Gre-gor cross-appeals, urging us, in the event that the case is remanded, to review the court’s decision not to apply a fee enhancement. We affirm the judgment.
I. BACKGROUND
[¶2] This is the second appeal to us arising out of a foreclosure action instituted against Gregor
[¶ 3] On remand, in October 2015, Gre-gor moved in the trial court for an award of legal fees and costs, arguing that the court should order Homeward to pay the attorney fees that she incurred in the litigation pursuant to 14 M.R.S. § 6101.
What Gregor seeks first is a determination by the court that it will exercise its discretion to award her legal fees and costs under 14 M.R.S. § 6101 due to the fact that Plaintiff did not prevail in this action. Once the court determines that Gregor should recover her fees and costs, only then it will become necessary and appropriate to determine the amount of fees and costs to be awarded.
Gregor attached a proposed order setting forth a process by which (1) the court would decide that it had the authority to order Homeward to pay Gregor’s legal fees; (2) Gregor’s attorney would submit a fee affidavit; (3) the parties would attempt to agree on the amount of fees owed; and (4) if the parties could not agree, Gregor’s attorney would submit the affidavit to the court and the court would determine what amount of fees to award. Homeward filed no reply to this proposal.
[¶ 4] By order dated December 10, 2015, the court determined that it did have authority, pursuant to section 6101, to order Homeward to pay Gregor’s “reasonable court costs and attorney fees.”
[¶ 5] In accordance with the process the court outlined, Gregor filed a claim for fees and expenses along with her attorney’s supporting affidavit and statement of time and expenses. In opposition, Homeward urged the court not to order Homeward to pay all of Gregor’s fees and costs based oh its view of various relevant factual- circumstances. Homeward argued, for example, that any fee award should not include Gre-gor’s appeal-related fees and that no enhancement was appropriate. Homeward did not raise the argument that section 6101 did not apply because, due to its lack of standing, it was not “the mortgagee.”
[¶ 6] In an order dated March 3, 2016, the court reiterated its determination that it had the authority to award Gregor attorney fees according to section 6101. After considering the factors involved in determining the amount of the award, the court ordered Homeward to pay attorney fees in the amount of $59,115.
[¶7] Homeward timely appealed, and Gregor timely cross-appealed.
II. DISCUSSION
A Statutory Authority to.Award Attorney Pees .
[¶ 8] Homeward first argues that the court erred when it concluded that it had the authority to award Gregor attorney fees and costs, pursuant to section 6101. Specifically, Homeward argues that because we determined that it lacked standing to pursue the foreclosure action, see Gregor,
[¶9] To preserve an issue for appeal, the party seeking review must first present the issue to the trial court in a timely fashion. Brown v. Town of Starks,
B. Award of Attorney Fees
[¶ 11] We tum 'now to the argument that Homeward did preserve: that the court abused its discretion in setting the amount of the fee award. To analyze this issue, because Homeward did not preserve its principal argument, we must assume— without deciding — that' the court did not err when it determined that section 6101 is applicable.
[¶ 12] We review an award of attorney fees for an abuse of discretion, Kezer v. Cent. Me. Med. Ctr.,
1. Inclusion of Appeal-Related Fees
[¶ 13] Homeward contends that, contrary to the court’s findings, it prevailed in the appeal portion of the foreclosure proceedings and Gregor’s appeal-related fees were not “incurred in defending against the foreclosure or any proceeding within the foreclosure action” as provided by section 6101. In the context of other statute- and rule-based attorney fees provisions, we have made clear that the issue of whether a party “prevailed” in a proceeding is a question of fact reviewed for clear error. See Runnells v. Quinn,
[¶ 14] Thus, applying section 6101, the trial court was to “look at the lawsuit as a whole,” Landis,
2. Overall Fee Award
[¶ 15] Homeward also argues that even if inclusion of the appeal-related fees was not an abuse of discretion, the court otherwise abused its discretion in setting the amount of the award. We are not persuaded by this argument. In determining what constitutes a “reasonable” attorney fees award, trial courts consider numerous factors including
(1) the time and labor required; (2) the novelty and difficulty of the questions presented; (3) the skill required to perform the legal services; (4) the preclusion of other employment by the attorneys due to acceptance of the case; (5) the customary fee in the community; (6) whether the fee is fixed or contingent;(7) the time limitations imposed by client or circumstances; (8) the degree of success; (9) the experience, reputation and ability of the attorneys; (10) the undesirability of the case; (11) the nature and length of the professional relationship with the client; and (12) awards in similar cases.
Gould v. A-1 Auto, Inc.,
The entry is:
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
. George J. Wulff was also named as a defendant in the foreclosure action. He made a request for mediation, but did not otherwise appear, and he has not participated in this appeal. See Homeward Residential, Inc. v. Gregor,
. We noted that during the initial foreclosure trial, a loan analyst from Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, (Ocwen) testified that Ocwen had been a servicer for Homeward and then, as a result of a merger, "Ocwen kind of consumed Homeward.” Gregor,
. Title 14 M.R.S. § 6101 (2016) provides, in relevant part, that
[i]f the mortgagee does not prevail, or upon evidence that the action was not brought in good faith, the court may order the mortgagee to pay the mortgagor’s reasonable court costs and attorney’s fees incurred in defending against the foreclosure or any proceeding within the foreclosure action and deny in full or in part the award of attorney’s fees and costs to the mortgagee. For purposes of this section, “does not prevail” does not mean a stipulation of dismissal entered into by the parties, an agreed-upon motion to dismiss without prejudice to facilitate settlement or successful mediation of the foreclosure action pursuant to section 6321-A.
The Legislature added this provision to section 6101 in 2011. P.L. 2011, ch. 269, § 1 (effective Sept. 28, 2011).
. On the same day, the court also entered an order dismissing Homeward’s foreclosure action without prejudice in accordance with our mandate in Gregor,
. The court stated that its attorney fees award would “run against both” Homeward and Ocwen.
. The court also ordered Homeward to pay ' $1,337.11 for Gregor's court-related expenses.
. In a residential foreclosure case similar to this one, the trial court entered a judgment in the defendant’s favor based on the plaintiff’s failure of proof but "reserved to the parties the right to re-litigate all issues in a properly commenced future foreclosure action.” U.S. Bank, N.A. v. Tannenbaum,
. We recently reviewed an award of attorney fees pursuant to a statute that authorized the court to "order a party ... to pay another party or another party's attorney reasonable attorney’s fees, including costs, for participation in the proceedings.” True v. Harmon,
. Because we affirm the judgment, we do not reach Gregor’s argument on cross-appeal regarding fee enhancement, which Gregor stated she would pursue only if we remanded the case for further proceedings.
