Court Opinion

ID: 9471275
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:28:25.208505+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:20.154659
License: Public Domain

CHOY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
While there is considerable support for the majority’s position that the district court had jurisdiction to make the fee award in this case, I believe that Judge Aldrich’s opinion for the Fourth Circuit in Wright v. Jackson, 522 F.2d 955 (4th Cir.1975), better addresses the specific question of jurisdiction to make disciplinary fee awards. The contrary cases cited by the majority all concern, or follow cases concerning, fee awards under. 42 U.S.C. § 1988 or 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). In fee requests under either statute, the merits of the underlying action are no longer in question. Instead, the question is simply, “How much?”1 In cases such as this one, however, the question is essentially the same one as presented by the substantive action, namely, “Does the action have any merit?” Once again, we are asked to consider the merits of Ryan’s action. I would agree with the Fourth Circuit that “insofar as a court’s measure of a party’s obstinacy depends on the merits of the case, it must make that assessment while the merits are before it, either prior to an appeal, or on remand after they have been settled.” 522 F.2d at 958.
The correctness of this approach is supported by an examination of this very case. While we considered the first appeal in this case, the district judge was ruling on the same substantive question we were, the merits of the underlying Masalosalo action. Had we reversed the lower court’s summary judgment in our first Masalosalo disposition, the exact consequences that the practice of exclusive appellate jurisdiction is designed to prevent would have occurred. Two courts, considering the same issue, at the same time, would have reached contrary results. We would have found merit; the district court would have found none. This “confusion and waste of time” that could occur from contrary trial court and appellate court holdings is exactly what justifies exclusive appellate jurisdiction. In re Thorp, 655 F.2d 997, 998 (9th Cir.1981) (per curiam); J. Moore, B. Ward & J. Lucas, 9 Moore’s Federal Practice H 203.11 at 3-44 n. 1 (2d ed. 1983).
Moreover, I believe that the Fourth Circuit rule is better in line with the law of this court. We have held that jurisdiction over a case is immediately transferred to the court of appeals upon the filing of a sufficient notice of appeal “with respect to any matters involved in the appeal.” G & M, Inc. v. Newbern, 488 F.2d 742, 746 (9th Cir.1973) (quoting 9 J. Moore, Federal Practice K 203.11 (2d ed. 1971)) (emphasis added). See Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co., - U.S. -, 103 S.Ct. 400, 402, 74 L.Ed.2d 225 (1982) (per curiam). Although we have recognized exceptions to this rule, no exception applies to this case.2
*959The present question of the frivolousness of the Masalosalo suit was certainly a matter involved in the original appeal. This self-evident proposition draws precedential support from the G & M case. In G & M, after appeal was noticed, the district court heard and granted a motion for imposition of costs under Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(c) for expenses incurred in proving a matter that the defendant had failed to admit. This court held that the district court was without jurisdiction to make the award. The court responded to the argument that the Rule 37(c) motion related to matters not involved in the original appeal this way:
We see no merit in this reasoning. It is true, for instance, that an appeal from an order granting or denying a preliminary injunction does not divest the district court of jurisdiction to proceed with the action on the merits — i.e., the merits are not matters “involved in the appeal.” This is not the situation here: the proof plaintiff was required to make as a result of defendant’s failure to admit was directly involved in the verdict and judgment in the main case. The order purports to amend the judgment. The issue of reimbursement of expenses is not “involved” in this appeal only because plaintiff failed to raise the issue in a timely fashion.
488 F.2d at 746-47 (citation omitted) (emphasis added). By comparison, the considerations that sustain the present fee award are the same considerations used to evaluate the first appeal from summary judgment. Unlike G & M, of course, the assessment of attorney’s fees here did not purport to amend the judgment. But that cannot be determinative of whether or not a matter is involved with matters under appeal.
Although I dislike the practice of etching finer and thinner lines in the landscape of the law, the line between fee awards under the civil rights statutes and disciplinary fee awards assessed to penalize frivolous claims is a line broad enough and wide enough to inform all concerned what type of fee award may not be made when jurisdiction over a case shifts to the court of appeals.
I would vacate the judgment below for lack of jurisdiction. Accordingly, I dissent.

. It is true that the measure of a party’s success on the merits is a factor to be considered in awarding attorney’s fees under the civil rights statutes. Hensley v. Eckerhart, - U.S. -, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). However, the underlying merits of the civil rights action is not a question bearing on the fee award.

. The G&M case states there are three exceptions to the prohibition of district court jurisdiction during appeal. These are: (1) orders in aid of appeal; (2) corrections of clerical errors; and (3) orders in aid of execution of a judgment. 488 F.2d at 746. Accord In re Thorp, 655 F.2d 997, 998 (9th Cir.1981) (per curiam). However, despite the sweeping language of G & M and Thorp, a fourth exception for district court orders made for the purpose of maintaining the status quo was recognized in Hoffman v. Beer Drivers & Salesmen’s Local Union No. 888, 536 F.2d 1268, 1276 (9th Cir.1976). A possible fifth exception to the rule is found in Kaplan v. International Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees, 525 F.2d 1354 (9th Cir. 1975), a Title VII case, where this court allowed the district court to reserve jurisdiction for awarding damages and attorney’s fees that are incurred after the entry of judgment in a civil rights action. Id. at 1363. None of these exceptions justifies the district court’s fee award in this case.