Opinion ID: 474066
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Common Fund

Text: 11 Granville claims that it is entitled to attorneys' fees under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2412(b). Under that section, a party must demonstrate that it is a prevailing party and that it has a common law right to attorneys' fees. Here, the asserted common law right is based on the common fund theory. Under this theory, a litigant who creates, increases, or protects a fund, to the benefit of nonparties, is entitled to receive attorneys' fees from that fund. The class of beneficiaries, however, must be small in number, and readily identifiable, so that the cost of litigation can be shifted to the beneficiaries. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. The Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 265 n. 39, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 1626 n. 39, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975). Here, the class of beneficiaries is large and unidentifiable and thus the common fund theory is inapplicable.