Opinion ID: 203914
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Attorneys' Fees Under Puerto Rico Law

Text: Puerto Rico law governs the state law claim for attorneys' fees in this diversity action. See Mass. Eye & Ear Infirmary v. QLT Phototherapeutics, Inc., 552 F.3d 47, 74 (1st Cir.2009); Newell P.R. Ltd. v. Rubbermaid Inc., 20 F.3d 15, 24 (1st Cir.1994). Puerto Rico law provides that in the event that any party or its lawyer acted obstinately or frivolously, the court shall impose on such person the payment of a sum of attorneys' fees, which, in its judgment the court corresponds to such conduct. P.R. Tel. Co., 427 F.3d at 33 ( quoting P.R. R. Civ. P. 44.1(d)). It has long been understood that a finding of obstinacy requires that the court determine a litigant to have been unreasonably adamant or stubbornly litigious, beyond the acceptable demands of litigation, thereby wasting time and causing the court and the other litigants unnecessary expense and delay. P.R. Tel. Co., 427 F.3d at 33 ( quoting De Leon Lopez v. Corp. Insular de Seguros, 931 F.2d 116, 126 (1st Cir. 1991)). Reviewing Smith Barney's claims of obstinance and frivolousness, the district court found none. [12] This finding is due significant deference. Mass. Eye & Ear Infirmary, 552 F.3d at 74 ( citing French v. Corporate Receivables, Inc., 489 F.3d 402, 403 (1st Cir.2007)); see also De Jesus Nazario v. Morris Rodriguez, 554 F.3d 196, 199 (1st Cir.2009); B. Fernandez & HNOS v. Kellogg USA, Inc., 516 F.3d 18, 28 (1st Cir.2008). It is true that the district court did not delve deeply into the reasons why it concluded that Fernandez's prosecution of his suit was neither obstinate nor frivolous, but our precedents do not always require an exacting level of detail. See Mass. Eye & Ear Infirmary, 552 F.3d at 74 (explaining in context of federal fee shifting statute that district court's attorneys' fees finding need not be precise to the point of pedantry, infinitely precise, deluged with details, or even fully articulated )( citing United States v. One Star Class Sloop Sailboat, 546 F.3d 26, 42 (1st Cir.2008)) (emphasis added). Here, although further explanation by the district court would have been preferable, we cannot conclude that the district court's denial of fees was an abuse of discretion. [13]