Boyle v. Leviton Manufacturing Co.

94 F.R.D. 33, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1185, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16508
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedDecember 23, 1981
DocketNo. IP 80-210-C
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 94 F.R.D. 33 (Boyle v. Leviton Manufacturing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boyle v. Leviton Manufacturing Co., 94 F.R.D. 33, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1185, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16508 (S.D. Ind. 1981).

Opinion

ORDER

STECKLER, Chief Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the motion of defendant, Levitón Manufacturing Co., Inc., for attorneys’ fees under Fed. R.Civ.P. 37(c). More specifically, the defendant (Levitón) requests an order requiring the plaintiffs, Arthur A. Boyle and Arthur A. Boyle Co., Inc., to pay the attorneys’ fees incurred by Levitón on its motion for summary judgment (which this Court granted on April 7,1981), such fees allegedly being the result of the plaintiffs’ denial of facts in Leviton’s request for admissions which facts would have been dispositive of this lawsuit had the plaintiffs admitted them. Levitón asks this Court to determine the fees reasonably incurred by Levitón after a hearing where all parties could submit probative evidence on attorneys’ fees.

This action stems from an alleged contractual relationship between the plaintiffs and defendant. Plaintiffs’ seven-count complaint charged Levitón with breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, interference with contractual relations, breach of fiduci[34]*34ary duties, violation of implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing, willful or wanton misconduct and outrage. In the course of the discovery phase of this action, Levitón deposed Mr. Boyle to establish the factual basis for the complaint. Subsequently, on July 15, 1980, Levitón served requests for admissions on the plaintiffs, which requests sought admission of certain matters involving the application of law to fact; however, the plaintiffs denied the requested admissions. Levitón followed the plaintiffs’ denial of its requests for admissions with a motion for summary judgment. After the plaintiffs answered the latter motion, this Court on April 7, 1981, granted summary judgment on all seven counts in favor of Levitón. Significantly, between the time of the plaintiffs’ refusal to admit any of the matters raised by Leviton’s requests for admissions and the plaintiffs’ answer to Leviton’s motion for summary judgment, the plaintiffs did not conduct any discovery in this action.

After this Court entered summary judgment in favor of Levitón and before the plaintiffs filed their notice of appeal, Levitón on April 24, 1981, filed its Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(c) motion for attorneys’ fees with a supporting brief. The plaintiffs have not filed a response to this motion. Essentially, Levitón argues that the plaintiffs’ refusal to admit certain matters involving the application of law to fact as a mechanism for narrowing the issues before the Court necessitated Leviton’s preparation and filing of elaborate briefs to support its summary judgment motion. Now Levitón seeks reasonable attorneys’ fees for its effort, said fees to be determined at an evidentiary hearing.

Before this Court can address the substantive question of Leviton’s entitlement to attorneys’ fees under Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(c), the Court must determine if it has jurisdiction to rule on Leviton’s motion since the plaintiffs’ appeal of the summary judgment is pending before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ruling on the jurisdictional issue before this Court, the Seventh Circuit has held “that Rule 37(c) expenses and fees must be timely sought prior to judgment and appeal, . . . . ” Popeil Bros., Inc. v. Schick Elec., Inc., 516 F.2d 772, 778 (7th Cir. 1975). If the expenses and fees are not sought prior to appeal and the final judgment is silent in regard thereto, the issue is waived. Id. The implicit premise for the Popeil Bros., Inc. decision is the general rule that

“[t]he filing of a timely and sufficient notice of appeal has the effect of immediately transferring jurisdiction from the district court to the court of appeals with respect to any matters involved in the appeal. It diverts the district court of authority to proceed further with respect to such matters, except in aid of the appeal, or to correct clerical mistakes ... or in aid of execution of a judgment that has not been superseded, until the district court receives the mandate of the court of appeals.” 9 Moore’s Federal Practice, ¶ 203.11, pp. 3-44, 3-46 to 3-47 (2d ed. 1980); accord, G & M, Inc. v. Newbern, 488 F.2d 742 (9th Cir. 1973).

This Court would be predisposed to follow the rule set forth in Popeil Bros., Inc. v. Schick Elec., Inc., supra, except for the recent Seventh Circuit opinion in Terket v. Lund, 623 F.2d 29 (7th Cir. 1980), which involved an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. The district court entered summary judgment on all counts of the complaint in favor of the defendants and, subsequently, the defendants moved for attorneys’ fees under § 1988. Following the latter motion, the plaintiff filed his notice of appeal from the summary judgment. The plaintiff failed to respond to the defendants’ motion for attorneys’ fees which the district court later granted awarding the defendants’ attorneys’ fees totalling $1,000.00. Because the plaintiff failed to file a second notice of appeal on the attorneys’ fees issue but did brief this issue in its argument on the summary judgment appeal, the Seventh Circuit sua sponte considered the question of its jurisdiction to review the attorneys’ fee award. The Court of Appeals held it lacked jurisdiction to review the award since it was entered after judgment was granted on [35]*35the merits and the plaintiff did not file a notice of appeal from the fees award.

Despite its lack of jurisdiction over the attorneys’ fees issue, the Seventh Circuit exercised its supervisory powers and considered the propriety of the procedure followed by the district court in awarding attorneys’ fees under § 1988. Initially, the Court of Appeals acknowledged the general rule, stated by Professor Moore, supra, divesting the district court of jurisdiction once the notice of appeal was filed. However, the Seventh Circuit observed that the general rule “ ‘is a judge-made doctrine designed to avoid the confusion and waste of time that might flow from putting the same issues before two courts at the same time. It should not be employed to defeat its purposes no[r] to induce needless paper shuffling.’ ” Terket v. Lund, supra, 623 F.2d at 33, quoting 9 Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 203.11, p. 3-45 n. 1, supra. (Emphasis added.) The Terket court further recognized that the district court in ruling on the fees motion had to account both for the relative merits of the plaintiff’s case and the result obtained. However, such a deliberation did not require

“the sort of reconsideration of the merits which could lead to altering the substantive judgment or in any way interfere with the pending appeal. The district court merely takes the merits into account, along with many other factors, in making a discretionary decision entirely distinct from the underlying judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
94 F.R.D. 33, 34 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1185, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16508, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boyle-v-leviton-manufacturing-co-insd-1981.