Blanc v. Spartan Tool Co., 9858.

• Decision Date: 09 December 1949
• Docket Number: No. 9858.,9858.
• Citation: 178 F.2d 104
• Parties: BLANC v. SPARTAN TOOL CO.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

178 F.2d 104 (1949)

BLANC v. SPARTAN TOOL CO.

No. 9858.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

December 9, 1949.

Gordon F. Hook, Gerrit P. Groen, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.

Arthur A. Olson, Thorley von Holst, Chicago, Ill., for appellee.

Before KERNER, DUFFY, and FINNEGAN, Circuit Judges.

KERNER, Circuit Judge.

This appeal involves the issue of the propriety of an order awarding attorneys' fees to defendant in the amount of $7,500 in a patent suit dismissed on the merits.

The cause was previously before us on an appeal from the order of dismissal, which order also included the provision: "That the defendant also recover from the plaintiff reasonable attorney's fees, but the matter of determination of the amount of the award of such fees be and the same is hereby continued until the further order of the Court." We affirmed the judgment holding the patent in suit invalid. 7 Cir., 168 F.2d 296, 300. The issue of the allowance of attorneys' fees was also raised on that appeal in briefs and oral argument, and as to that question we stated:

"It is claimed that the court erred in decreeing that defendant recover reasonable attorneys' fees. No amount was fixed by the court. The determination of the amount of the award was continued to be considered at a later date.

"Under 35 U.S.C.A. § 70 the court may in its discretion award reasonable attorneys' fees to the prevailing party. But plaintiff argues that it was not contemplated that the recovery of attorneys' fees become `an ordinary thing in patent suits,' and cites Lincoln Electric Co. v. Linde Air Products Co., D.C., 74 F.Supp. 293, 294, in which the court denied fees because the case `presents a situation which is not unusual in patent matters.' We think it clear that under the statute the question is one of discretion. The court exercised its discretion and that ends the matter unless we can say as a matter of law that there was a clear abuse of discretion. This we cannot say."

When proceedings were resumed in the District Court for the determination of the amount of fees, after affirmance of the decision by this court on the merits and denial of certiorari, 335 U.S. 853, 69 S.Ct. 81, plaintiff sought to reopen the question of the right of defendant to any fees, contending that this court had not gone into the question, but had simply held that the matter was discretionary with the lower court.

Although we did not deem it necessary in our earlier opinion to discuss the facts of the case with relation to the allowance of fees, we were convinced from our study of the record that they supported the exercise by the court of the discretion granted by the statute to allow fees, hence we affirmed the judgment in all respects, including the allowance of "reasonable attorneys' fees," with the amount to be fixed later. This, then, became the law of the case, and all that remained for the court on a later hearing was to determine what constituted "reasonable fees" under the...