Opinion ID: 788957
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: District Court's Sanctioning Authority

Text: 13 The District Court's order granting sanctions expressly relied only on 28 U.S.C. § 1927. Manion contends, however, that we should review the sanctions award as an exercise of the District Court's inherent authority. See Appellee's Br. 14-15. We decline the invitation, because the District Court did not purport to rely on its inherent authority. Instead, it specifically granted the sanctions award under § 1927. The court's passing reference to the reasons offered by Plaintiff in the subsequent order liquidating the award of sanctions, Manion v. Am. Airlines, Inc., No. 96-2094, Order (D.D.C. Sept. 29, 2003), App. 169, does not indicate that the District Court intended to rely on a different sanctioning authority than that pursuant to which the sanction was expressly granted. We therefore conclude that the sanctions award was ordered solely pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1927. See GRiD Sys. Corp. v. John Fluke Mfg. Co., 41 F.3d 1318, 1320 (9th Cir.1994) (holding that a sanction cannot be affirmed under the district court's inherent authority where the court relied on § 1927); cf. Ashby v. McKenna, 331 F.3d 1148, 1151 (10th Cir.2003) ([W]ith respect to a matter committed to the district court's discretion, we cannot invoke an alternative basis to affirm unless we can say as a matter of law that it would have been an abuse of discretion for the trial court to rule otherwise.) (internal quotation marks omitted). 14 The parties make a number of arguments on whether and how the District Court can invoke its inherent authority, but we do not address these issues. The District Court was explicit in this case regarding its sanctioning authority, and Manion did not object below that the court should have invoked its inherent power. 15