Maddrix v. Dize

• Decision Date: 23 January 1946
• Docket Number: 5448.,No. 5439,5439
• Citation: 153 F.2d 274
• Parties: MADDRIX et al. v. DIZE.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

153 F.2d 274 (1946)

MADDRIX et al. v. DIZE.

Nos. 5439, 5448.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

January 23, 1946.

Simon E. Sobeloff, of Baltimore, Md. (Bernard M. Goldstein and Sigmund Levin, both of Baltimore, Md., on the brief), for appellants.

Hyman Ginsberg and Harry Leeward Katz, both of Baltimore, Md., for appellee.

Before SOPER and DOBIE, Circuit Judges, and GILLIAM, District Judge.

SOPER, Circuit Judge.

No. 5439.

This appeal presents for determination the right of the attorney of an employee to receive additional compensation for services rendered in a suit under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq., after judgment in the plaintiff's favor in the District Court. The additional services were rendered upon an appeal by the defendant to this court and upon the transfer of the case by writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court where the judgment of the District Court was affirmed. The history of the case is summarized in the opinion of the District Court as follows 61 F.Supp. 946, 947:

"The chronological facts relative to the various steps in this litigation are as follows: On February 1, 1944, after hearing on the merits, this Court rendered judgment in plaintiff's favor for $1,052.10 and included in this judgment an additional allowance of $75 as a fee to plaintiff's attorney for services to date, in accordance with the provisions of Section 16(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 216(b), which provides that `The court in such action shall, in addition to any judgment awarded to the plaintiff or plaintiffs, allow a reasonable attorney's fee to be paid by the defendant, and costs of the action.' No claim for, or mention of compensation for possible future legal services was made. This judgment was affirmed August 1, 1944, by the Circuit Court of Appeals, Dize v. Maddrix, 4 Cir., 144 F.2d 584. Thereafter, on November 13, 1944, the Supreme Court granted the defendant a writ of certiorari 323 U.S. 702, 65 S.Ct. 135. The case was duly heard before that Court; on April 9th, 1945, it affirmed the action of the Circuit Court of Appeals, Dize v. Maddrix, 324 U.S. 697, 65 S.Ct. 895, and on the first day of June, 1945, its mandate issued, the relevant part of which reads as follows: `Ordered and adjudged by this Court that the judgment of the said United States Circuit Court of Appeals in this cause be, and the same is hereby affirmed with costs. And it is further ordered, That this cause be and the same is hereby, remanded to the District Court of the United States for the District of Maryland. You, therefore are hereby commanded that such proceedings be had in said cause, as according to right and justice, and the laws of the United States, ought to be had, the said writ of certiorari notwithstanding.'

"Summarized, the attorney's contention is that since his legal services in connection with the two appeals in this case, i. e., one to the Circuit Court of Appeals and one to the Supreme Court, had of course, not been rendered at the time the case was heard by this Court and its judgment entered, this Court has implied if not express power, by reasonable interpretation of the language of Section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, just quoted, to enter a supplemental judgment for an additional fee for these subsequent services, upon being satisfied that such a fee has been earned. On the other hand, defendant's contention is that because of the character of this Court's judgment as originally entered; because of the fact that it has been affirmed without modification or reopening by both the Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, and the fact that the plaintiff did not raise the question of an additional attorney's fee either when the case was before this Court, or before either one of the appellate tribunals, as he might have done, he is without remedy in this Court."

The District Court concluded that it was without power to allow an additional fee because it was obliged strictly to follow the mandate of the Supreme Court as to all matters within its compass, which, in this case, comprehended not only a judgment for the amount of the wages due under the Act and the penalty for non-payment thereof, but also the fee of $75 for services rendered by the plaintiff's attorney at the trial below. The court expressed the belief that the command in the mandate of the Supreme Court that such proceedings be had upon the remand as according to right and justice and the laws of the United States ought to be had did not empower it to allow an additional fee and therefore denied the petition for additional compensation without prejudice to such right as the attorney might have to apply to the Circuit Court of Appeals or to the Supreme Court of the United States for modification of the mandate.

We are urged to affirm this ruling on the grounds set forth in the court's opinion and also upon the ground that the statute does not confer the right to compensation upon the attorney but upon his client who in this case made no application therefor.

We think that the power of the court to allow a reasonable attorney's fee for additional services rendered in the appellate courts was not restricted by the mandate. The purpose of the statute is not open to doubt; not only does it empower the court to render judgment for the amount due the employee for his hours of labor at the statutory rate, and to include in the judgment an equal amount as liquidated damages, but it...