Opinion ID: 510975
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Fees to the American Legion

Text: 49 We react differently to the award of $17,163.26 in fees and costs to the American Legion's attorneys, however. We note at the outset that it seems paradoxical to award over $20,000 in fees for the defense of a case that the Legion itself maintains was so frivolous that it crie[d] out for the award of sanctions. Amer. Legion Br. at 43. Although the district court rejected $51.96 for computer research, it accepted without discussion or modification the affidavits of the Legion's counsel as to the number of hours they expended and their proffered hourly rates. The hourly rates are not contested, but under our jurisprudence the calculation of the sanctions amount requires an inquiry by the court into both the reasonableness of the hourly rate and the reasonableness of the number of hours expended in this case. See Lindy Bros. Builders, Inc. v. American Radiator, 540 F.2d 102 (3d Cir.1976) (in banc). 11 However, the district court did not undertake an examination of whether the number of hours expended by the Legion was in actuality excessive. Had it done so we are confident that it would agree that the Legion's attorneys were guilty of overkill in their extensive briefing of this frivolous lawsuit. 50 The district court dismissed Bass' contention that the level of legal sophistication necessary for summary dismissal was not that great by noting that the contention simply amounted to an admission of the frivolous nature of the complaint. App. at 17. Although we agree that the statement supports the decision to sanction Bass, we conclude that the court erred in failing to consider whether the frivolousness also indicated that a less sophisticated or expensive response was required. As we stated above, the Rule 11 movant has a duty to mitigate by using reasonable means to terminate the litigation and to prevent costs from becoming excessive. In this case, the clearly frivolous nature of the complaint indicates that the expenditure of a substantial number of hours in defense of the suit is at least suspect, and we seriously doubt whether the Legion can justify spending more hours on the case than the government. 51 As we have noted, the Legion claims that its counsel expended 117.8 hours in, inter alia, preparation of motions, and writing an 11-page brief in support of a motion for summary judgment and a 10-page reply brief. In our view, however, the Legion has not advanced a credible justification for spending anywhere near 117.8 hours on this case. Moreover, one of the three issues in the Legion brief (regarding the statute of limitations) duplicated the government's arguments, despite the Legion's having discussed the case with the government. Although this overlap of legal defenses proffered by the defendants is not tremendous, a simple incorporation of the government's argument in the Legion's brief would have resulted in satisfaction of the affirmative duty to mitigate, which here included the duty not to duplicate arguments. Spell v. McDaniel, 616 F.Supp. 1069, 1093 (E.D.N.C.1985) (discussing court's scrutiny of unreasonable duplication of work by multiple counsel), aff'd in part and vacated in part, 824 F.2d 1380 (4th Cir.1987), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 108 S.Ct. 752, 98 L.Ed.2d 765 (1988); Harris v. Marsh, 679 F.Supp. at 1333 n. 210 (same). We do not suggest that counsel are forbidden to brief as extensively as they desire or even to duplicate arguments of co-counsel (presumably on the theory that they will brief them better). All we hold is that they cannot receive counsel fees for duplicative or excessive effort. 52 In sum, we conclude that the district court abused its discretion under the circumstances in failing to examine the number of hours expended by the Legion to defend a patently frivolous claim. Although we have expressed doubt that the Legion can justify its expenditure of hours on this case, perhaps it can, and because it has not had the opportunity to do so, we will remand to the district court for a reconsideration of the Legion's sanctions award in accordance with the standards set forth in this opinion. 12