Opinion ID: 675236
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Amount and Allocation

Text: 32 Sanctions must be appropriate in amount and levied upon the person responsible for the violation. White, 908 F.2d at 685. Plaintiffs contest the amount of the sanction and the fact that it was imposed against them rather than their attorneys. 33 The district court based the amount of the sanction on the Bank's total expenses because it believed that (1) the entire complaint was frivolous and (2) it was brought with an improper motive. We have rejected both of those conclusions, and have held that the only permissible basis upon which sanctions could have been imposed was for including the frivolous RICO claim in an otherwise valid complaint. See Dodd Ins. Co., 935 F.2d at 1157 (holding that a complaint with both frivolous and nonfrivolous claims may or may not violate Rule 11). The district court's order of sanctions did not identify the nature or amount of sanction, if any, that was appropriate solely for the frivolous claim. Thus, we must vacate the sanctions order. 34 If, on remand, the district court decides to order sanctions for the RICO claim, it should impose the least severe sanction reasonably necessary to deter the wrongdoer, taking into account the factors discussed in White, 908 F.2d at 684-85. It should also reconsider whether responsibility for the violation lies with the plaintiffs or their attorneys. Courts routinely direct sanctions for frivolous legal claims at attorneys rather than clients. See, e.g., Kirk Capital Corp. v. Bailey, 16 F.3d 1485, 1492 (8th Cir.1994) (reversing sanctions imposed against client for frivolous claim); Bakker v. Grutman, 942 F.2d 236, 242 (4th Cir.1991) (noting that sanctions for the frivolous complaint were not warranted against the clients, who acted on advice of their lawyers); see also 5A Wright & Miller, supra, Sec. 1336 at 104 ([W]hen the offending conduct relates to work that lies within the supposed competence of counsel, especially when it is beyond the understanding of the client ... it is the former who should be sanctioned, not the latter.). 35 In fact, under the recent amendment to Rule 11, which does not strictly apply here but is nevertheless instructive, monetary sanctions may not be imposed against a represented party--only against the attorney--for the assertion of a frivolous legal claim or contention. Fed.R.Civ.P. 11(c)(2)(A) (effective Dec. 1, 1993). Thus, in the case of a frivolously pleaded RICO claim, it seems that the court should sanction the responsible attorneys rather than the plaintiffs, unless it finds that the plaintiffs insisted, against the advice of counsel, that the RICO claim be asserted, or that the plaintiffs had a sufficient understanding of the nature, elements, and limitations of the attempted RICO claim to independently evaluate its applicability to the alleged facts. See White, 908 F.2d at 685 (sanctioning a party requires specific findings that the party was aware of the wrongdoing).