Steven Richardson v. Brother International Corp , 400 F. App'x 284 ( 2010 )

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION OCT 25 2010
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
STEVEN RICHARDSON, on behalf of No. 09-56604
himself and all others similarly situated,
D.C. No. 2:07-cv-00979-DSF-RC
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v. MEMORANDUM *
BROTHER INTERNATIONAL
CORPORATION, a Delaware corporation,
Defendant - Appellee.
In re: STEVEN RICHARDSON; et al., No. 09-73177
D.C. No. 2:07-cv-00979-DSF-RC
STEVEN RICHARDSON; et al.,
Petitioners,
v.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF
CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES,
Respondent,
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
BROTHER INTERNATIONAL
CORPORATION,
Real Party in Interest.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Dale S. Fischer, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted October 5, 2010
Pasadena, California
Before: PREGERSON, D.W. NELSON and IKUTA, Circuit Judges.
We lack subject matter jurisdiction to consider Steven Richardson’s appeal
of the district court’s order of conditional voluntary dismissal without prejudice.
See Unioil, Inc. v. E.F. Hutton & Co., 809 F.2d 548, 556 (9th Cir. 1987),
abrogated on other grounds by Townsend v. Holman Consulting Corp., 929 F.2d
1358 (9th Cir. 1990) (en banc). The dismissal was consensual because Richardson
expressly declined to withdraw his motion, and the conditions imposed by the
order were limited to costs and attorneys’ fees. See id. Because a condition
imposing costs and attorneys’ fees alone is per se not legal prejudice, id., the order
would not be appealable even if Richardson were correct that the fees awarded in
this case were unreasonably high. As we stated in Unioil, “review of clearly
unreasonable [costs and attorneys’ fees] conditions could be obtained through a
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writ of mandamus” rather than through direct appeal. Id. We also reject
Richardson’s argument that Koch v. Hankins, 8 F.3d 650 (9th Cir. 1993), should
affect our reading of Unioil, because Koch did not discuss jurisdiction and “the
exercise of jurisdiction in a case is not precedent for the existence of jurisdiction.”
Indian Oasis-Baboquivari Unified Sch. Dist. No. 40 of Pima Cnty., Ariz. v. Kirk, 91
F.3d 1240, 1243 (9th Cir. 1996).
Because the district court’s order imposed a joint and several obligation on
Richardson and his attorneys, the order is not appealable as a de facto sanction of
counsel. Cf. Heckethorn v. Sunan Corp., 992 F.2d 240, 241–42 (9th Cir. 1993).
Finally, because the district court expressly gave Richardson the option to
withdraw his motion upon notice that the condition would be between $100,000
and $110,000, we reject Richardson’s argument that the court erred in not giving
him a reasonable amount of time to withdraw his motion. See Lau v. Glendora
Unified Sch. Dist., 792 F.2d 929 (9th Cir. 1986); see also Beard v. Sheet Metal
Workers Union, Local 150, 908 F.2d 474, 476–77 (9th Cir. 1990).
Richardson does not meet the criteria for the issuance of a writ of mandate,
because he has not demonstrated that the district court’s order was clear error as a
matter of law. See Bauman v. U.S. Dist. Court, 557 F.2d 650, 654–55 (9th Cir.
1977); see also Exec. Software N. Am., Inc. v. U.S. Dist. Court for the Cent. Dist. of
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Cal., 24 F.3d 1545, 1551 (9th Cir. 1994), overruled on other grounds by Cal. Dep’t
of Water Res. v. Powerex Corp., 533 F.3d 1087 (9th Cir. 2008). Although the
district court used different phrases in referring to the fees properly chargeable to
Richardson under the Koch standard (fees “not likely to be useful” to Brother
International Corporation (“BIC”) and fees “not useful” to BIC), this was not clear
error because Koch itself used different formulations of the standard at different
times, including formulations similar to those used by the district court. See Koch,
8 F.3d at 652 (stating that only fees for work that “might [not] be useful” and
“might [not] be of use” are chargeable to the plaintiff). In addition, the district
court’s application of the Koch standard to fees incurred by BIC for work that
might have been useful in defending against other class actions raising similar
issues could not have been clear error because Koch did not define “litigation
between the parties” to include such third-party class actions. Koch, 8 F.3d at 652.
Richardson has not established that the court’s approval of BIC’s attorney’s fees
calculation, BIC’s inclusion in its calculation of work done in opposing
Richardson’s motion for voluntary dismissal, or the court’s decision not to conduct
an evidentiary hearing were inconsistent with our precedent.
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Because Richardson’s appeal was not frivolous, to the extent BIC’s motion
for Rule 38 sanctions was properly made, see Higgins v. Vortex Fishing Sys., Inc.,
379 F.3d 701, 709 (9th Cir. 2004), it is denied.
DISMISSED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.
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