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Attorney fees based on litigation misconduct reversed because movant is no longer a prevailing party

Attorney fees based on litigation misconduct reversed because movant is no longer a prevailing party

UCP v. Balsam Brands is a nonprecedential case decided on September 19, 2019 on appeal from the Northern District of California. The district court granted declaratory judgment plaintiff UCP’s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement. The district court then granted-in-part and denied-in-part UCP’s motion for attorney fees against declaratory defendant Balsam, holding that “UCP was entitled to only limited attorney fees under § 285 based on Balsam’s conduct in the Declaratory Judgment Litigation.” The court denied fees with respect to a related litigation and denied expert fees. Both parties appealed. The Federal Circuit vacated the district court’s judgment on infringement in the co-pending merits appeal.

The Federal Circuit reversed the decision to award attorney fees.

“By its terms, § 285 requires that the recipient of attorney fees be a ‘prevailing party.’” In this case, the district court awarded fees only after granting UCP’s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement. Where the Federal Circuit vacates or reverses the judgment in the Merits Appeal, “[it] must also reverse the fee award.” “Prevailing party status is a prerequisite to an award of attorney fees under that statutory section. It is therefore immaterial that the district court awarded attorney fees under § 285 based on Balsam’s [litigation misconduct].”
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The district court did not err in awarding on limited fees for Balsam’s conduct in the declaratory judgment litigation. “UCP is not entitled to additional attorney fees under § 285 for the same reason it is not entitled to the limited attorney fees the court awarded—it is not a “‘prevailing party.’”