Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-88-01560/USCOURTS-ca10-88-01560-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 840
Nature of Suit: Trademark
Cause of Action: 

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PILl!D 

Uoitt<i Stitfi Court of Appeals 

Tenth Cirrui~ 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

JAN 11 

&OBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

JOHN ZINK COMPANY, a corporation, 

Plaintiff-Appellee/ 

Cross-Appellant, 

v. 

ZINKCO, INC., a corporation; 

JOHN SMITH ZINK, 

Defendants-Appellants/ 

Cross-Appellees. 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) Nos. 88-1560 

) & 

) · 88-1665 

) (D.C. No. 85-C-292-C) 

) (N.D. Okla.) 

) 

) 

) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

Before ANDERSON, BALDOCK, Circuit Judges, and GREENE,** District 

Judge. 

**Honorable J. Thomas Greene, District Judge, United States 

District Court for the District of Utah, sitting by designation. 

These appeals are from an order of the district court dated 

March 7, 1988, which adopted a magistrate's recommendation and 

awarded attorney's fees to plaintiffs in the amount of $132,128.38 

pursuant to section 35 of the Lanham Act, 15 u.s.c. § 1117(a). 

* This order and· judgment has no precedential value and shall 

not be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, 

except for purposes . of establishing the doctrines of the law of 

the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 

36.3. 

Appellate Case: 88-1560 Document: 01019959072 Date Filed: 01/11/1990 Page: 1 
That provision permits a "prevailing party" to recover fees "in 

exceptional cases." 

On appeal, the parties have raised numerous arguments 

focusing on the calculation of the fees awarded. Our review of an 

award of fees is "limited" because the trial court "'has far 

better means of knowing what is just and reasonable compensation 

than an appellate court.'" Mares v. Credit Bureau of Raton, 801 

F.2d 1197, 1200-01 (10th Cir. 1986)(quoting Trustees v. Greenough, 

15 Otto 527, 105 U.S. 527, 26 L.Ed. 1157 (1881)). Thus, an 

attorney's fee award by a district court will be upset only if it 

represents an abuse of discretion. Id. at 1201. 

We have reviewed the record on appeal and the parties' 

appellate briefs and we have considered the points raised by 

counsel during oral argument. Under the totality of the 

circumstances, we are persuaded that the district court's award of 

attorney's fees was not an abuse of discretion. 

Accordingly, the judgment of the United States District Court 

for the Northern District of Oklahoma is AFFIRMED. 

request for attorney's fees on appeal is DENIED. 

ENTERED FOR THE COURT 

PER CURIAM 

2 

Plaintiff's 

Appellate Case: 88-1560 Document: 01019959072 Date Filed: 01/11/1990 Page: 2