Opinion ID: 698004
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: District Court Jurisdiction to Award Attorneys' Fees

Text: 13 Defendant next argues that its filing of its notice of appeal after the entry of judgment against it divested the district court of jurisdiction to award attorneys' fees. 14 The timely filing of a notice of appeal divests a district court of jurisdiction over a case, except as to matters collateral to the main cause of action. Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co., 459 U.S. 56, 58 (1982). Defendant argues that, because the statute governing attorneys' fees in this case, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 216(b), makes attorneys' fees to the prevailing party mandatory, attorneys' fees are properly viewed as a part of damages and thus as integral--not collateral--to an ADEA claim. Defendant contends that its filing of its notice of appeal therefore stripped the district court of jurisdiction to award attorneys' fees. 15 The Supreme Court, however, has held that attorneys' fees are always collateral to the main cause of action. See Budinich v. Becton Dickinson & Co., 486 U.S. 196, 202-03 (1988). 5 In Budinich, the court expressly ruled that attorneys' fees are collateral to the main cause of action even when the statute creating the cause of action makes the award of attorneys' fees mandatory. Id. at 202-03.