Opinion ID: 161333
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Compensation for the Bad Faith Claim

Text: First Marine claims initially that the fee awarded to the Lathams is unreasonable because it includes compensation for the bad faith claim. First Marine does not contend the text of the underlying offer of judgment supports its position. Indeed, the offer of judgment neither limits nor excludes the claims on which judgment is confessed. Perhaps recognizing this, First Marine urges instead that the Lathams’ bad faith allegation was unfounded and should never have been brought in the first place. Stripping any compensation from the claim, First Marine suggests, would appropriately sanction the Lathams. We need not address the considerable difficulties this court would encounter, on a rather limited record, were we to reassess the Lathams’ bad faith claim. This much we know: At the time it awarded the Lathams attorneys’ fees, the district court had before it not only First Marine’s motion for summary judgment on the merits of the bad faith claim, it also had the very contention that First Marine presses here, namely that the bad faith claim was wholly -5- unwarranted and should never have been part of this suit. Still the district court rejected First Marine’s position. Despite reducing the compensable time devoted to the bad faith claim, the court expressly stated, “I believe that some allocable share . . . with respect to the bad faith claim is appropriate because it [the ultimate disposition of the claim] is not clear one way or the other.” Appellant’s App., Vol. II at 382. Whatever else this signals, it hardly reflects a belief on the part of the court that the Lathams’ bad faith claim was as unfounded as First Marine insists. No doubt the district court viewed the claim from a better vantage point than we. For its part, First Marine has not persuaded us that the district court’s finding regarding the potential merit of the bad faith claim is clearly erroneous. Nor, to the extent the district court’s factual finding rested on matters of law, has First Marine convinced us that the court’s legal analysis was incorrect. Given our limited role in reviewing an award of attorneys’ fees, we are unable to say the court made a clear error of judgment or exceeded the bounds of permissible choice. We find no abuse of discretion. 1 1 We note that in an earlier hearing, the district court referred to certain “unsubstantiated motions” brought by First Marine. Appellant’s App., Vol. II at 366. The court did not specifically identify which motions it had in mind, though it appears from the record that only two were pending: First Marine’s summary judgment motion and its appeal from the magistrate judge’s discovery ruling. -6-