Opinion ID: 2973176
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Cohn’s Claims

Text: Cohn asserts two claims. He seeks a declaratory judgement that Appellees are required to apply the lodestar method of awarding attorneys’ fees in Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases, and he seeks mandamus relief directing Appellees to apply the lodestar method in all future such cases. We will discuss both of Cohn’s claims together because, although Cohn must have independent standing to assert each claim, both suffer from the same standing defects. First, the future injury Cohn alleges is not imminent; it is speculative and conjectural. Cohn alleges that he “has represented debtors in Chapter 13 before the defendants . . . and that he still has Chapter 13 cases pending in said court.” Cohn appears to argue that he has suffered past injury and is likely to suffer future harm. As an initial matter, Cohn’s allegation of past injury is not sufficient to confer standing for declaratory or injunctive relief. See O’Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 488, 495496 (1974) (“Past exposure to illegal conduct does not in itself show a present case or controversy regarding injunctive relief”); Lyons, 461 U.S. at 102. In addition, the fact that Cohn had cases pending before Appellees at the time he filed his complaint, or that he is likely to have future cases before Appellees, does not rescue his claims. The threat that Cohn will be harmed by some future 7 improper awarding of attorneys’ fees is simply too speculative. Even assuming that Appellees have been applying the incorrect method to calculate attorneys’ fees, which we cannot determine because Cohn has failed to cite to any specific case, the threat of Cohn’s future injury is “highly conjectural, resting on a string of actions the occurrence of which is merely speculative.” Grendell, 252 F.3d at 833. In order to find that Cohn is under threat of imminent injury, we would have to find that (1) Cohn presently has cases pending in the Western District of Tennessee or is likely to bring a case there, (2) Cohn will be entitled to attorneys’s fees in one of those cases, (3) Appellees will rule inconsistently with binding precedent established by this Court in Boddy and award attorneys’ fees improperly, and (4) the award will violate Cohn’s rights. This string of actions is especially tenuous given that it requires us to find that Appellees likely will violate binding precedent. Put simply, the speculative chain of events that must occur does not reach the level of imminency required to confer standing on a plaintiff in federal court. In addition, Cohn has failed to show that a favorable ruling by the district court or this Court would redress the “injury” of which he complains. The magistrate judge put forward a well-posed question, asking “[h]ow could this court enter an order regarding awards of fees, when it is not even clear that the amount listed as the ‘threshold’ amount is always (or even frequently, or ever) insufficient?” In other words, Cohn has alleged that Appellees utilize an improper method, but, even if that allegation had support, Cohn does not explain how that leads to a result, such as a smaller fee award than he is entitled to, that has violated his constitutional rights. We agree with the magistrate judge’s conclusion that, given the sparsity of factual allegations, a court could not fashion a remedy that would redress the harm Cohn alleges. In essence, this case is simply Cohn’s attempt to seek in a separate lawsuit what he can seek 8 only through the normal processes of appellate review. Rather than filing an appeal each time he feels that Appellees have failed to follow precedent and have improperly calculated attorneys’ fees, Cohn has filed a separate action to compel Appellees generally to follow applicable law. Based on the facts alleged in this case, it is clear that Cohn lacks standing to have a federal court hear the merits of either his declaratory judgment or mandamus claims.6