Ninth Circuit Grants Fee Award To Winning Defendant For Fees On Appeal.
This next case takes us all back to law school, with the substantive/procedural
distinction of import arising from the Erie doctrine.
In Northon v. Rule, Case No. 07-35319 (9th Cir. Jan. 18, 2011) (for publication), defendants won an anti-SLAPP motion under Oregon law, which has a mandatory fee-shifting provision in favor of winning defendants (similar to the anti-SLAPP statute in California). After sustaining the SLAPP win on appeal, defendants moved to recover $21,253.53 in appellate fees, a motion addressed to the Ninth Circuit.
The Ninth Circuit granted the motion, holding in the process that Oregon law governed the fee motion because state SLAPP fee provisions of this sort protect substantive rights and apply in federal court. (See also United States ex. rel. Newsham v. Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., Inc., 190 F.3d 963, 972-73 (9th Cir. 1999) [same result; California anti-SLAPP statute].)
Erie Railroad Workers.