Court Opinion

ID: 8896523
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-27 00:07:13.248638+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:07:31.545345
License: Public Domain

BUTZNER, Circuit Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part):
I concur in Parts I, II, III, and IV-A of the opinion. I dissent from Part IVB, which reverses the district court’s allowance of attorneys’ fees. I would adhere to our practice of sustaining a district judge who, for sound reasons, has allowed attorneys’ fees. His discretion can be justified in this case on two grounds: the appellees acted as private attorneys general, and, alternatively, the appellants’ defense was tainted by obdurate obstinacy.
By prosecuting this single case, the ap-pellees invalidated the racially exclusive admission practices of over three hundred schools represented by the Southern Independent School Association, as well as the practices of Fairfax-Brewster and Bobbe Schools. In so doing, they vindicated congressional policy by abolishing an aspect of racial discrimination prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1866 [42 U.S.C. § 1981]. This type of suit is encompassed by the private attorney general doctrine, which is applicable to suits brought under the Civil Rights Acts of 1866, 1871, and 1964. See, e. g., Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc., 390 U.S. 400, 88 S.Ct. 964, 19 L.Ed.2d 1263 (1968); Cooper v. Allen, 467 F.2d 836 (5th Cir. 1972); Lee v. Southern Home Sites Corp., 444 F.2d 143 (5th Cir. 1971); Sims v. Amos, 340 F.Supp. 691 (M.D.Ala., 3-judge court), aff’d mem., 409 U.S. 942, 93 S.Ct. 290, 34 L.Ed.2d 215 (1972). Under this doctrine, the award is not dependent on proof of bad faith, for good or bad faith is irrelevant. Brandenburger v. Thompson, 494 F.2d 885, 888 (9th Cir. 1974). Nor does the receipt of compensatory damages preclude an award of attorneys’ fees, Knight v. Auciello, 453 F.2d 852 (1st Cir. 1972), though, of course, a court may take damages into account when awarding a fee. See Lee v. Southern Home Sites Corp., 444 F.2d at 147.
Alternatively, attorneys’ fees are justified when defendants display obdurate obstinacy; See Brewer v. School Board of City of Norfolk, 456 F.2d 943 (4th Cir. 1972) (dictum). The district court’s findings, amply supported by the record, demonstrate that the officers of the *1092schools did not truthfully recount under oath the facts of the case. Such bad faith in' the conduct of litigation is a pernicious form of obstinacy that can no more be tolerated than out-of-court bad faith. Cf. Hall v. Cole, 412 U.S. 1, 15, 93 S.Ct. 1943, 36 L.Ed.2d 702 (1973). This behavior should not be excused simply because this case involves a novel factual situation. Cf. Lea v. Cone Mills Corp., 438 F.2d 86, 88 (4th Cir. 1971); Miller v. Amusement Enterprises, Inc., 426 F.2d 534, 536 (5th Cir. 1970).
Finally, I believe that the enactment of 20 U.S.C. § 1617 directing the allowance of fees in public school desegregation cases does not create an inference that Congress intended to withdraw from district courts “the inherent equitable power” * of a chancellor to allow fees in actions against private schools when the facts otherwise justify the award because the plaintiffs acted as private attorneys general or the defendants displayed obdurate obstinacy. Other courts confronted with analogous problems have not restricted the allowance of fees in suits brought under the earlier Civil Rights Acts to instances where Congress has subsequently authorized fees in related legislation. See, e. g., Brandenburger v. Thompson, 494 F.2d 885 (9th Cir. 1974) (welfare benefits); Sims v. Amos, 340 F.Supp. 691 (M.D.Ala., three-judge court), aff’d mem., 409 U.S. 942, 93 S.Ct. 290, 34 L.Ed.2d 215 (1972) (reapportionment). Indeed, the drastic limitation on the allowance of fees in civil rights cases suggested by the majority appears to be without precedent.
Judge WINTER and Judge CRAVEN concur in Parts I, II, III, and IV — A of the court’s opinion. They join Judge BUTZNER in dissenting from Part IVB.

 See Hall v. Cole, 412 U.S. 1, 5, 93 S.Ct. 1943, 36 L.Ed.2d 702 (1973).