Second Circuit chief judge rules no requirement of "bad faith" finding for attorney fees reward.

Wayne Parsons

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Law.com (9/8, Wise) reports, "A finding of 'subjective bad faith' is not a prerequisite for an award of attorney fees in a dismissed market manipulation case subject to a 1995 law designed to curb frivolous securities claims, a unanimous federal appeals panel in Manhattan ruled Wednesday. Writing for the panel in ATSI Communications v. Shaar Fund, 08-1815-cv, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs concluded that a finding of bad faith is not required to support an award of sanctions ordered by Southern District of New York Judge Lewis A. Kaplan under the mandatory provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. However, while upholding Kaplan's finding that the defendants were entitled to a fee award, the panel found that, in the absence of a bad faith finding, the judge nevertheless had to re-examine his award of nearly $70,000 to determine if it was reasonable."