Opinion ID: 853347
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Heading: The Private Attorney General Doctrine: An Overview

Text: As a prelude to analyzing Indiana law, we note that there are two basic attorney fee schemes: the English rule (loser pays) and the American rule (every man for himself). W. Kent Davis, The International View of Attorney Fees in Civil Suits: Why Is the United States the Odd Man Out in How It Pays Its Lawyers?, 16 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 361, 399, 403 (1999). Both schemes are grounded in statute. Id. at 400, 404. Some view the English rule as more fair, arguing that a legal victory is not complete if one is out of pocket for attorney fees. Id. at 405. Proponents of the American rule respond: [S]ince litigation is at best uncertain one should not be penalized for merely defending or prosecuting a lawsuit, and [ ] the poor might be unjustly discouraged from instituting actions to vindicate their rights if the penalty for losing included the fees of their opponents' counsel. Also, the time, expense, and difficulties of proof inherent in litigating the question of what constitutes reasonable attorney's fees would pose substantial burdens for judicial administration. Fleischmann Distilling Corp. v. Maier Brewing Co., 386 U.S. 714, 718, 87 S.Ct. 1404, 18 L.Ed.2d 475 (1967) (citations omitted). Courts in various American jurisdictions have sought a middle ground by using their inherent equitable powers to carve out exceptions to the American rule. See Saint Joseph's College v. Morrison, Inc., 158 Ind.App. 272, 279, 302 N.E.2d 865, 870 (1973). The most common exceptions are: 1) The obdurate behavior exception, in which courts impose costs upon defendants as a punishment for bringing frivolous actions or otherwise acting in bad faith. Andrew W. Hull, Attorney's Fees for Frivolous, Unreasonable or Groundless Litigation, 20 Ind. L.Rev. 151, 152-53 (1987). 2) The common fund exception, in which an award benefits members of an ascertainable class, and the court reimburses the prevailing litigant's attorney fees out of that pool of money to prevent the unjust enrichment of free riders. Id. at n. 11. [3] 3) The private attorney general exception, where courts award fees to litigants who bring actions to protect important social policies or rights. Id. Judge Jerome Frank coined the phrase private attorney general in 1943, to describe a private person acting to vindicate the public interest. Associated Indus. v. Ickes, 134 F.2d 694, 704 (2d Cir.1943). In 1975, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a federal circuit split by declining to reallocate by judicial decree the burdens of federal litigation under the private attorney general doctrine. Alyeska Pipeline Serv. Co. v. Wilderness Soc'y, 421 U.S. 240, 247, 270 n. 46, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975). The Court expressed concern that without statutory authorization, authority to make fee awards would leave courts free to pick and choose among plaintiffs and the statutes under which they sue and to award fees in some cases but not in others, depending upon the courts' assessment of the importance of the public policies involved in particular cases. Id. at 269, 95 S.Ct. 1612. The Court recently reaffirmed its commitment to the American rule, citing Alyeska, in Buckhannon Bd. & Care Home, Inc. v. W. Va. Dep't of Health & Human Res., 532 U.S. 598, 602, 121 S.Ct. 1835, 1839 (Rehnquist, C.J., for majority), 1856 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting), 149 L.Ed.2d 855 (2001).