Statute Annotations › Oregon › Or. Rev. Stat. § 20.096

Or. Rev. Stat. § 20.096

Attorney fees in actions on contract: the cases that interpreted this section

Jurisdiction
Oregon
Case notes
151
Cited in passing
90
Citing cases indexed
319
Case dates
1972–2026
Screened through
2026-04-06
Checked for later law changes
2026-10-21
Courts' treatment: live
No reviewed case has held this section invalid, preempted, superseded or repealed.
This reflects what the reviewed cases said, not legislative action: a later amendment or repeal by the legislature would not appear here unless a reviewed case discussed it.

241 citing cases reviewed of 319 in the citation index: 151 interpreted the section (annotated below), 90 cited it only in passing. Cases filed after 2026-04-06 may not have been reviewed yet.

Have a situation under Or. Rev. Stat. § 20.096?

These notes show how courts have ruled. Ask about your specific facts and see which of these rulings apply, with citations you can check.

Fees against nonparties to the contract

Section 20.096(1) does not authorize costs for third-party defendants who were not alleged to be parties to the contract and faced no breach-of-contract claim.

Village at North Pointe Condominiums Ass'n v. Bloedel Construction Co. · filed 2016-05-18(1)

Here, none of the parties alleged that Belanger or Jagow were a party to the contracts that formed the basis for plaintiffs breach-of-contract claim, nor did plaintiff assert a breach-of-contract claim against them. In addition, neither Belanger nor Jagow sought an award of costs (or fees) based on that contract. The trial court erred when it concluded that ORS 20.096 could provide a statutory basis for Belanger and Jagow to recover costs against plaintiff.
Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

Notes 151–151 of 151, oldest cases first.

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