Opinion ID: 777337
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Attorney Fees Award Should Be Reversed

Text: 55 USWA argues Plaintiffs' attorney fees award in this case must be reversed. It contends the award is based on a common benefit theory that is not available to Plaintiffs because they only benefitted themselves and did not obtain injunctive relief that benefitted other members of Local 5644. 56 Under the American Rule courts do not ordinarily award attorney fees to the prevailing party. Alyeska Pipeline Serv. Co. v. Wilderness Soc'y, 421 U.S. 240, 247, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 1616, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975). An exception to this rule occurs in LMRDA cases under a common benefit theory. Hall v. Cole, 412 U.S. 1, 93 S.Ct. 1943, 36 L.Ed.2d 702 (1973). The rationale behind the theory is if other members of the Local would benefit from the efforts of a successful plaintiff in the same way as the plaintiff, then those members would be unjustly enriched at the plaintiff's expense if they did not equally contribute to the litigation expense. Id. at 8, 93 S.Ct. at 1948. 57 Plaintiffs claim the common benefit theory should apply when a party vindicates the rights of all members of a Local. In Hall, the plaintiffs won their free speech claim and the rest of the Local's free speech rights were therefore protected. The court awarded attorney fees to the plaintiffs under the theory the rest of the Local should have to share in the cost of protecting their free speech rights. Id. Awarding attorney fees in free speech cases like this simply shifts the costs of litigation to the class that has benefitted from them and that would have had to pay them had it brought the suit. Id. 58 USWA contends the common benefit theory only applies when some injunctive relief is awarded to the union because of a party's efforts. Hall was in fact such a case. They argue we have awarded attorney fees under a common benefit theory only when injunctive relief was given. Shimman v. International Union of Operating Engrs., Local 18, 744 F.2d 1226 (6th Cir.1984) (plaintiffs did not receive injunctive relief and attorney fees were not allowed); Black v. Ryder, 970 F.2d 1461 (6th Cir.1992); Murphy v. IUOE, Local 18, 774 F.2d 114, 127 (6th Cir.1985) (attorney fees granted and plaintiff received injunctive relief). 59 We decline to follow either interpretation of the common benefit rule. The central issue for a court in determining the applicability of the common benefit theory is whether the members of the Local shared in the benefit of the suit in the same way as the plaintiff. For instance, in Shimman we did not allow an award of attorney fees because the benefit obtained by the union was only a small part of the benefits received by the plaintiffs. Shimman, 744 F.2d at 1235. To allow the plaintiffs to recover their attorney fees from the union would not operate to spread the costs of litigation proportionately among these beneficiaries, the key requirement of the `common benefit' theory. Id. 60 Where a Plaintiff recovers only a small amount of compensation and the suit provides a substantial benefit to local union members, attorney fees are appropriate. See Murphy, 774 F.2d at 127. In such cases the plaintiffs are sharing the benefits of the suit equally with the union and so the union should have to share the burden or cost of the suit with the plaintiff. 61 Applying the common benefit theory to this case requires we REVERSE the district court's decision to award attorney fees to Plaintiffs. Although Plaintiffs vindicated their free speech rights and thereby benefitted the Local as a whole, they also received compensatory and punitive damages that exceeded twice the stipulated value of the attorney fees. Plaintiffs received more than $400,000 in damages in this case in which members of the Local cannot share. Therefore, the local union is not benefitting from the efforts of the successful Plaintiffs in the same way as the Plaintiffs and so would not be unjustly enriched at the Plaintiffs' expense if they did not equally contribute to the litigation expense. Hall, 412 U.S. at 8, 93 S.Ct. at 1948.