Opinion ID: 338426
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Doubling

Text: 58 To evaluate the district court's doubling of the lodestar we first must recognize distinctions in the juridical functions of trial and reviewing courts, and the concomitant differences in their respective responsibilities. As we have often said, the award of a reasonable attorney's fee is within the district court's discretion. 11 Merola v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 493 F.2d 292, 295 (3d Cir. 1974) (Merola I); Lindy I, supra, 487 F.2d at 166; Tranberg v. Tranberg, 456 F.2d 173, 175 (3d Cir. 1972). Unhappily, this formulation does not advance the analysis; it merely restates the problem, for one must understand what one means by discretion. 59 Ordinarily in the law, as the Ninth Circuit observed several years ago, discretion 60 is defined as: The power exercised by courts to determine questions to which no strict rule of law is applicable but which, from their nature, and the circumstances of the case, are controlled by the personal judgment of the court. 1 Bouv. Law Dict., Rawles' Third Revision, p. 884. Judicial action discretionary in that sense is said to be final and cannot be set aside on appeal except when there is an abuse of discretion. A common example is a court's ruling on the extent of cross-examination. Alford v. United States, 282 U.S. 687, 694, 51 S.Ct. 218, 75 L.Ed. 624. Discretion, in this sense, is abused when the judicial action is arbitrary, fanciful or unreasonable, which is another way of saying that discretion is abused only where no reasonable man would take the view adopted by the trial court. If reasonable men could differ as to the propriety of the action taken by the trial court, then it cannot be said that the trial court abused its discretion. 61 Delno v. Market St. Ry., 124 F.2d 965, 967 (9th Cir. 1942); see Napolitano v. Campania Sud Americana de Vapores, 421 F.2d 382, 384 (2d Cir. 1970). Thus, one may attack an exercise of discretion as irrational. One seeking to establish such an abuse of discretion, however, assumes a heavy burden. Almquist v. Almquist, 214 Kan. 788, 791, 522 P.2d 383, 386 (1974). Lindy I and Merola I both emphasize that the appellate court may also find an abuse, or more accurately a misuse, of discretion where the trial court utilizes improper standards or procedures in determining fees. Lindy I, supra, 487 F.2d at 166; Merola I, supra, 493 F.2d at 295. Similarly, a clearly erroneous finding of fact may require reversal. Ibid. 62 Stated negatively, the appellate court may not upset a trial court's exercise of discretion on the basis of a visceral disagreement with the lower court's decision. Similarly, the appellate court may not reverse where the trial court employs correct standards and procedures, and makes findings of fact not clearly erroneous. In sum, (i)f the district court has applied the correct criteria to the facts of the case, then, it is fair to say that we will defer to its exercise of discretion. Katz v. Carte Blanche Corp., 496 F.2d 747, 756 (3d Cir.) (in banc), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 885, 95 S.Ct. 152, 42 L.Ed.2d 125 (1974). But if the trial court has not properly identified and applied the criteria, the court's determination will not be entitled to such deference. 63 As previously rehearsed, the district court went to great lengths to articulate clearly the reasons for its decision. Cf. Greater Boston Television Corp. v. FCC, 143 U.S.App.D.C. 383, 444 F.2d 841, 851 (D.C.Cir. 1970) (Leventhal, J.), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 923, 91 S.Ct. 2229, 29 L.Ed.2d 701 (1971). The court found that the contingent nature of success alone justified a substantial increased allowance. 382 F.Supp. at 1017. Inasmuch as we understand appellants to challenge the amount by which the district court increased the lodestar award, we decline the invitation to upset the exercise of discretionary authority. Had any one of us been the trial judge acting on this fee application, we might well have acted differently; we might have increased the basic award by 20, 50, or 75 per cent. But as appellate judges, we do not find the district court's action so unreasonable or so arbitrary as to amount to a prejudicial abuse of . . . discretion. Napolitano v. Compania Sud Americana de Vapores, supra, 421 F.2d at 384; see Rosenberg, Judicial Discretion of the Trial Court, Viewed From Above, 22 Syracuse L.Rev. 635, 662 (1971). 64 After thoroughly reviewing appellants' contentions, we have concluded that the district court followed the guidelines stated in Lindy I ; accordingly, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in doubling the amount deemed a reasonable lodestar award for most categories of services performed. 65 The district court's struggle with this case on remand and the difficulties we encountered on review, however, persuade us that additional direction is necessary so that the district courts within this circuit may properly implement the teachings of Lindy I. We now turn to that task.