Legal fees for frivolous claims

1. When a plaintiff’s suit involves both frivolous and non-frivolous claims, a court may grant reasonable fees to the defendant, but only for costs that the defendant would not have incurred but for the frivolous claims. 2. The lower courts used an incorrect standard in awarding fees to Vice. The District Court’s analysis suggests that Vice’s attorneys would have done much the same work even if Fox had not brought his frivolous claims. The charges arose out of Vice’s conduct in the campaign, and with respect both to the frivolous federal claims and to the non-frivolous state-law claims, his “defense entailed proof or denial of essentially the same facts.” It thus seems likely that Vice’s attorneys would have, e.g., taken many of the same depositions. 594 F. 3d 423, vacated and remanded.

Result

Vacated

The Court said fees can cover only costs the defendant would not have faced without the frivolous claims. Fox's federal and state claims involved essentially the same facts, so Vice's lawyers likely would have done much of the same work either way.

The lower court must reconsider the fee award under the rule set by the Supreme Court.