Obin v. District No. 9 of Intern. Ass'n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

• Decision Date: 11 June 1981
• Docket Number: No. 80-1315,80-1315
• Citation: 651 F.2d 574
• Parties: 26 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 103 Morris OBIN, Appellant, v. DISTRICT NO. 9 OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS AND AEROSPACE WORKERS; Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 574

651 F.2d 574

26 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 103

Morris OBIN, Appellant, v. DISTRICT NO. 9 OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS AND AEROSPACE WORKERS; Anheuser-Busch Inc., Appellees.

No. 80-1315.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Dec. 10, 1980.

Decided June 11, 1981.

Jerome A. Diekemper, argued, Diekemper, Hammond & Shinners, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee, Dist. No. 9.

Gerald Kretmar, argued, Levin & Weinhaus, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiff-appellant.

Dennis C. Donnelly, argued, Rebecca R. Kionka, Thomas K. O'Shaughnessy, Bryan, Cave, McPheeters & McRoberts, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee, Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

Before LAY, Chief Judge; BRIGHT, Circuit Judge; and LARSON, Senior District Judge. ^*

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents two principal questions for review: (1) whether the ten-day period for serving motions to alter or amend a judgment, Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e), applies to a postjudgment motion for an award of attorney's fees; and (2) whether the district court abused its discretion in this case by assessing attorney's fees against a discharged employee who unsuccessfully sought monetary and injunctive relief from his employer for breach of contract, from his union for unfair representation, and from both for religious discrimination. We conclude that a motion for assessment of attorney's fees raises a collateral and independent claim and, accordingly, would not be governed by the ten-day limitation prescribed in Rule 59(e) for motions to alter or amend a judgment. As the claims for fees were timely asserted, we proceed to the second question and conclude that the district court erred in awarding attorney's fees to the employer and erred in part in granting fees to the union.

I. Background.

Following his discharge for unauthorized beer drinking and use of abusive or profane language towards a supervisor, Morris Obin brought this action in federal district court against his employer, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. (the Company), and his local union, District No. 9 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (District No. 9 or the Union). Count I of each complaint charged the Company and Union with religious discrimination under section 706(f) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f) (1976). Count II of the complaint against Anheuser-Busch alleged that the Company had breached its collective bargaining agreement with the Union by discharging Obin without just cause, in violation of section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185 (1976). Count II against District No. 9 alleged that the Union had breached its common-law duty of fair representation by failing to fully pursue his unlawful discharge grievance against the Company.

The district court consolidated the complaints for trial. Count I of each action was tried to the district judge, who determined that Obin had failed to establish a prima facie case of religious discrimination against either Anheuser-Busch or District No. 9. Count II was tried simultaneously to a jury, which returned verdicts in favor of the Company and the Union. The district court entered judgment in both actions on December 21, 1979.

On January 2, 1980, District No. 9 moved that the court allow the Union reasonable attorney's fees for its defense of the action. One week later, Anheuser-Busch filed a similar motion seeking recovery of the fees it incurred in defending the suit. Both defendants asserted their right to recovery on the attorney's fees provision of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k) (1976), and the court's inherent power to allow fees in cases brought or maintained in bad faith.

By order of March 4, 1980, as supplemented on April 9, the district court granted both motions. Finding that Obin's claims were frivolous and pursued in bad faith, the court ordered Obin to pay costs and fees of $20,075.89 to the Union and $25,695.65 to the Company. Obin v. District No. 9, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, 487 F.Supp. 368 (E.D.Mo.1980).

Obin appeals from both the judgment on the merits, alleging error on various evidentiary rulings at trial, and the award of costs and attorney's fees to Anheuser-Busch and District No. 9. Having carefully reviewed the evidentiary rulings in light of the record and the parties' arguments, we see no error or abuse of discretion by the district court in these rulings and, therefore, affirm the judgment on the merits. We focus at length, however, on what the parties concede to be the major issue on appeal: whether the district court properly awarded attorney's fees to either the Company or the Union for defending the Title VII or section 301/unfair representation causes of action. We conclude that the unusual facts and circumstances of this litigation warrant an allowance of attorney's fees, but only to the Union on Obin's Title VII claim. Accordingly, we reverse the award of attorney's fees as assessed by the district court and remand the case for an appropriately reduced allowance of fees to the Union. We affirm on all other issues. ¹

II. Availability of Court-Awarded Attorney's Fees.

In Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975), the Supreme Court reaffirmed the traditional "American rule" that the prevailing party in federal litigation may not ordinarily recover attorney's fees in the absence of express statutory authorization. ² The Court, however, also reaffirmed an exception to this rule "when the losing party has 'acted in bad faith, vexatiously, wantonly, or for oppressive reasons.' " Id. at 258-59, 95 S.Ct. at 1622, quoting F. D. Rich Co., Inc. v. United States ex rel. Industrial Lumber, Inc., 417 U.S. 116, 129, 94 S.Ct. 2157, 2165, 40 L.Ed.2d 703 (1974).

Accordingly, this court has recognized post-Alyeska that an award of attorney's fees may be proper in an action under section 301 for breach of contract or in a suit for breach of the duty of fair representation, even in the absence of express statutory authorization, if the losing party has acted in bad faith. Cronin v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 588 F.2d 616 (8th Cir. 1978) (action by employees against employer and union for breach of collective bargaining agreement and duty of fair representation); General Drivers, Helpers and Truck Terminal Employees, Local No. 120 v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 535 F.2d 1072 (8th Cir. 1976) (action by union to require arbitration of grievance under collective bargaining provision); Richardson v. Communication Workers of America, 530 F.2d 126 (8th Cir.) (action by employee against company, international, and local for wrongful discharge), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 824, 97 S.Ct. 77, 50 L.Ed.2d 86 (1976). See R. Gorman, Basic Text on Labor Law 724 (West 1976).

In a Title VII action, however, a different standard governs the allowance of attorney's fees to a prevailing litigant. Section 706(k) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, provides:

In any action or proceeding under this (title) the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the Commission or the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs, and the Commission and the United States shall be liable for costs the same as a private person. (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k) (1976).)

In Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U.S. 412, 98 S.Ct. 694, 54 L.Ed.2d 648 (1978), the Supreme Court interpreted this provision to permit an award of attorney's fees to a prevailing defendant only if "a court finds that (the plaintiff's) claim was frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless, or that the plaintiff continued to litigate after it clearly became so." Id. at 422, 98 S.Ct. at 701.

"To the extent that abstract words can deal with concrete cases," id. at 421, 98 S.Ct. at 700, the Court attempted to explain this standard by discussing the criteria previously adopted by two courts of appeals for awarding attorney's fees to defendants in Title VII actions. Both the Second and Third Circuits had invoked the terms "frivolous, meritless, or vexatious" to describe suits in which the defendant might recover fees. See Carrion v. Yeshiva University, 535 F.2d 722, 727 (2d Cir. 1976) ("unreasonable, frivolous, meritless or vexatious"); United Steel Corp. v. United States, 519 F.2d 359, 363 (3d Cir. 1975) ("unfounded, meritless, frivolous or vexatiously brought"). In evaluating these criteria, the Supreme Court carefully pointed out

that the term "meritless" is to be understood as meaning groundless or without foundation, rather than simply that the plaintiff has ultimately lost his case, and that the term "vexatious" in no way implies that the plaintiff's subjective bad faith is a necessary prerequisite to a fee award against him. (Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, supra, 434 U.S. at 421, 98 S.Ct. at 700.)

The Court also cautioned at length:

In applying these criteria, it is important that a district court resist the understandable temptation to engage in post hoc reasoning by concluding that, because a plaintiff did not ultimately prevail, his action must have been unreasonable or without foundation. This kind of hindsight logic could discourage all but the most airtight claims, for seldom can a prospective plaintiff be sure of ultimate success. No matter how honest one's belief that he has been the victim of discrimination, no matter how meritorious one's claim may appear at the outset, the course of litigation is rarely predictable. Decisive facts may not emerge until discovery or trial. The law may change or clarify in the midst of litigation. Even when the law or the facts appear questionable or unfavorable at the outset, a party may have an entirely reasonable ground for bringing suit. (Id. at 421-22, 98 S.Ct. at 700-701.)

In light of these standards, we must determine whether the district court abused its discretion in awarding fees to Anheuser-Busch or...