Opinion ID: 551844
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Extent of Compensable Fees and Expenses

Text: 34 Rule 11 does not provide any free passes to litigants who violate its mandate. Once a court finds a Rule 11 violation it must impose some form of sanction. Thomas, 836 F.2d at 876. The basic principle governing the choice of sanctions is that the least severe penalty that is appropriate must be chosen. Id. at 878. 35 Thomas also directs that a sanctioned attorney who is ordered to pay the opposing counsel's expenses may only be liable for reasonable attorney fees. Thomas, 836 F.2d at 878-79. Finding an expense to be reasonable requires a court to examine the extent to which the nonviolating party's expenses and fees could have been avoided or were self-imposed. Thomas, 836 F.2d at 879. Thus, the Fifth Circuit imposes a so-called duty to mitigate on the nonviolating party. 9 Id.; Napier v. Thirty or More Unidentified Federal Agents, 855 F.2d 1080, 1092 (3d Cir.1988); Dubisky v. Owens, 849 F.2d 1034, 1037 (7th Cir.1988). 36 Judge Black sanctioned Brown for the entire amount of appellee's attorney fees. Originally, he fined Brown $5,000; this amount was increased by $15,309.33 to reach the entirety of appellee's attorney fee request. Although the trial court may indeed rule that the entirety of an attorney's conduct is sanctionable, this court finds that appellee did not properly mitigate expenses. Every claim based on Title VII or the A.D.E.A. revolves around a question of time. The very first task performed by counsel in such cases should always be to check the date on which the claims were submitted to the E.E.O.C. and the date on which the commission issued the right to sue letter. Because appellee did not execute this most basic of steps, two major claims in the case at bar dragged on for three years before being dismissed. 37 The record contains voluminous records from appellee which supported her claim for attorney fees. Unfortunately, the copious documentation does not differentiate between appellants' different causes of action. Therefore, this case is REMANDED to the district court to determine which portion of the fees were incurred in preparing to defend against the Title VII and A.D.E.A. claims. That amount cannot be included in the Rule 11 award because appellee failed to mitigate expenses.