Opinion ID: 2998257
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: We first must resolve the question of our jurisdiction to hear this appeal. An interim award of attorneys’ fees generally is interlocutory and not appealable until the conclusion of the underlying suit on the merits. See Estate of Drayton v. Nelson, 53 F.3d 165, 166-67 (7th Cir. 1994). There is, however, one exception to this rule: An interim award of fees may be appealed if “the party against whom the award is made will not be able to get his money back if he prevails at the end of the case and the award is vacated then.” Id. at 167. The plaintiffs assert that the exception is inapplicable here and therefore that this court lacks jurisdiction over this appeal. From the plaintiffs’ submissions to this court before oral argument, it was unclear whether they actually claimed that they would be able to repay the fee award if the Director ultimately prevailed in the underlying suit and the award were vacated. See, e.g., Appellees’ Reply Br. at 3 (“There is no non-repayment risk—much less the type of substantial risk the case law refers to—because there is no reversal risk. And there is no reversal risk because the Director’s appeal, on its merits, is frivolous . . . .”). At oral argument, it became clear that there is indeed a risk that the plaintiffs and their counsel will lack the financial wherewithal to repay the award should it be reversed 6 No. 04-4294 sometime in the future. However, the plaintiffs continued to assert at oral argument that there is no risk of non-repayment because it is unlikely repayment ever will be ordered. In the plaintiffs’ view, the chances are quite slim that the Director will prevail on the merits, thus requiring them to repay the fee award. The plaintiffs’ theory does not reflect accurately the reasoning behind our cases concerning the appealability of an interim fee award. “Our court has . . . [been] careful to emphasize that appeal depends on a demonstration that the money, once disbursed, is effectively beyond recall in the event of reversal at the end of the case.” Constr. Indus. Ret. Fund of Rockford v. Kasper Trucking, Inc., 10 F.3d 465, 468 (7th Cir. 1993); see also Palmer v. City of Chicago, 806 F.2d 1316, 1319 (7th Cir. 1986) (finding jurisdiction over appeal of interim fee order when members of class to whom fee was paid “might be insolvent” or “might have disappeared” by the end of litigation), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1049 (1987). It is clear from our cases that it is the future financial solvency of the party to whom fees are being awarded that matters in the determination whether jurisdiction exists. The parties have not brought to our attention any case explicitly finding a lack of jurisdiction on the theory that the party against whom interim fees are awarded has a very low chance of ultimately prevailing on the merits. Thus, because the plaintiffs have admitted that there is a risk they would be unable to repay the fee award in the future if so required, we find that we have jurisdiction over this appeal.