Gibbs v. Blackwelder, 9616.
Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit) |
Citation | 346 F.2d 943 |
Docket Number | No. 9616.,9616. |
Parties | Reacus GIBBS and Wanda N. Gibbs, his wife, Appellants, v. Leroy J. BLACKWELDER, and Mary Louise Blackwelder, his wife, Appellees. |
Decision Date | 02 June 1965 |
No appearance for the appellees.
Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, BOREMAN, Circuit Judge, and HUTCHESON, District Judge.
In litigation arising out of a land transaction in Florida, the plaintiffs, Gibbs, obtained a judgment in Florida against the defendant, Leroy J. Blackwelder, for a sum in excess of $35,000. Unable to collect the judgment in that State, they brought suit upon the Florida judgment in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. There, the issue became the availability of certain lands, titled in the name of Mrs. Blackwelder, for the satisfaction of the husband's debts. The lands are said to be of very substantial value and the claim of the Gibbs one of several claims against the husband which will be collectible only if the lands standing in the name of the wife are available for their satisfaction.
Extended proceedings in the District Court resulted in a memorandum opinion and a decree in which the District Court held that Mr. Blackwelder did have an interest in the lands and that they were available for the satisfaction of his debts. There has been no appeal from that decree. In a supplemental memorandum opinion, however, the District Court refused to allow fees to the plaintiffs' attorneys, except certain minor sums in connection with their obtaining an order requiring the defendants to answer questions propounded in the taking of depositions, and it charged one of the plaintiffs' attorneys with $250 for having advised the plaintiffs to refuse to answer questions propounded to them. This appeal comes from the refusal to allow attorneys' fees to the plaintiffs in general and from the $250 charge against the attorney in favor of the defendants.
The District Court was under the impression that the request for the allowance of fees for the plaintiffs' attorneys was for the benefit of the attorneys and not for the benefit of the plaintiffs. He said in his memorandum opinion:
Now, at least, it is clear that the request for the allowance of fees is for the benefit of the plaintiffs. It is founded upon the principle that when one who, while establishing his own claim, also establishes the means by which others may collect their claims, a chancellor in equity may award counsel fees to the trail blazer out of the property made available for the satisfaction of all claims. The principle is applied so that the one who led in hewing the path to victory is not left saddled with extensive attorney's fees, which need not be incurred by his more timid fellows who held back until the fruits of the pioneer's success were laid before them. The principle is succinctly stated in Sprague v. Ticonic National Bank, 307 U.S. 161, 165-7, 59 S.Ct. 777, 779-780, 83 L.Ed. 1184.
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