Opinion ID: 6983255
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Denial of attorney’s fees to ABPS.

Text: After the district court granted the ABPS’s renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, the ABPS made a motion for an award of attorney’s fees pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a). The district court denied this motion. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a), prevailing Lanham Act defendants are entitled to an award of attorney’s fees in “exceptional” cases. We review a district court’s grant or denial of attorney’s fees under the Lanham Act for an abuse of discretion. Johnson v. Jones, 149 F.3d 494, 503 (6th Cir.1998). The ABPS’s primary argument is that plaintiff began this litigation knowing that it could not establish the causation issues of actual deception and injury. However, plaintiff had a colorable argument that the challenged statements were literally false and that plaintiff therefore did not have to prove actual deception. Where a plaintiff sues under a colorable, yet ultimately losing, argument, an award of attorney’s fees is inappropriate. See Stephen W. Boney, Inc. v. Boney Servs., Inc., 127 F.3d 821, 827 (9th Cir.1997) (where plaintiff raised debatable issues of law and fact, the case was not “exceptional” so as to justify an award of attorney’s fees). Accordingly, we are unable to say that the district court abused its discretion in denying the ABPS’s motion for attorney’s fees.