FLEMING & ASSOCIATES v. NEWBY & TITTLE

No. 07-20277.

529 F.3d 631 (2008)

FLEMING & ASSOCIATES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEWBY & TITTLE Defendants, Represented by Liaison Counsel; Robert A. Belfer; Norman P. Blake, Jr.; Ronnie C. Chan; Wendy L. Gramm, M.D.; Robert K. Jaedicke; Charles A. Lemaistre; Joe H. Foy; Bruce G. Wilson; John Mendelson; Paulo V. Ferraz Pereira; Frank Savage; Herbert S. Winokur, Jr.; Jerome J. Meyer; John A. Urquhart; Charles E. Walker; John Wakeham, Defendants-Appellees. David Jose; James Brister; Peter Maxfield; George Atallah, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Robert A. Belfer; Norman P. Blake, Jr.; Ronnie C. Chan, Jr.; John H. Duncan; Joe H. Foy; Wendy L. Gramm, M.D.; Ken L. Harrison; Robert K. Jaedicke; Michael J. Kopper; Charles A. Lemaistre; Rebecca Mark-Jubasche; John Mendelsohn; Jerome J. Meyer; Paul V. Ferraz Pereira; Frank Savage; John A. Urquhart; John Wakeham; Charles E. Walker; Herbert S. Winokur, Jr., Certain Outside Director Defendants, Defendants-Appellees. Mary Bain Pearson; John Mason, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Robert A. Belfer; Norman P. Blake, Jr.; Ronnie C. Chan; John H. Duncan; Joe H. Foy; Wendy L. Gramm, M.D.; Ken L. Harrison; Robert K. Jaedicke; Michael J. Kopper; Charles A. Lemaistre; John Mendelsohn; John A. Urquhart, Defendants-Appellees. Fred Rosen; Marian Rosen; Larry D. Barnett; Robert Chazen; Clifford D. Gookin, Trustee for the Clifford D. Gookin Revocable Living Trust; Carl Herrin; Todd L. Johnson, Administrator for RJS & Affiliated Companies Pension Plan; Robin Saex; John Siemer and Elizabeth Siemer, Trustees FBO the Siemer Family Trust; John E. Williams; Lee Ann Tobin, Personal Representative of the Estate of Anthony Tobin, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Robert A. Belfer; Norman P. Blake, Jr.; Ronnie C. Chan; John H. Duncan; Joe H. Foy; Wendy L. Gramm, M.D.; Robert K. Jaedicke; Charles A. Lemaistre; John Mendelsohn; Jerome J. Meyer; Paul V. Ferraz Pereira; Frank Savage; John A. Urquhart; John Wakeham; Charles E. Walker; Herbert S. Winokur, Certain Outside Director Defendants, Defendants-Appellees. Harold Ahlich; Frances Ahlich; John Banks; Ida Banks; Nancy Bell; Bill Bragdon; Rhonda Bragdon; Bruce Campbell; Janet Campbell; Vincent Carrella; Marianne Carrella; Louis Carucci; Patrick Cunningham; James Davidson; Karen Davidson; John Davis; Peter Dorflinger; Ronald Gish; Johanne Graham; John Gutman; David Huckin; Edward Japhe; Michael Krehel; John Neighbors; Jean Neighbors; William Pwell; Samuel Reiner; Lillian Reiner; Henritta Rowe; Ralph Shapiro; Jean Shapiro; Constance Theodore; George Venters; Nickye Venters; Peter Veruki; Chris Babson and Stacey Babson, Co-Executors of the Estate of Irving Babson; Jennie Lutz, Personal Representative of the Estate of Paul Lutz, Plaintiffs-Appellants, [VV] v. Robert A. Belfer; Norman P. Blake, Jr.; Ronnie C. Chan; John H. Duncan; Joe H. Foy; Wendy L. Gramm, M.D.; Robert K. Jaedicke; Charles A. Lemaistre; John Mendelsohn; Jerome J. Meyer; Paul V. Ferraz Pereira; Frank Savage; John A. Urquhart; John Wakeham; Charles E. Walker; Herbert S. Winokur, Jr., Defendants-Appellees. Ruben Delgado; Irene Delgado; Apolonio Baca; Robert H. Baker, on Behalf of the Brookdale Baker Limited Family Partnership; David F. Bitonti; Edwin C. Broun, III; Caroline Callery; Wallace Tilley, as Representative of the Estate of Bonnie Cooksey; Louis J. Daleo, on Behalf of Loumar Ltd. a Partnership; Ken Davis; Jeffrey W. Elliot; Donna L. Gagliardi; Louis Gordon; Joel Grossman; Jaime Grossman; Douglas C. Hause; Rietta Hughmacher; George Jeffords; Kenneth H. Jones, on Behalf of Marianne Jones; Emily Kemper; Alan Levin; Diane Levin; Sylvia H. Lohman; David P. Matthews; Ken J. McCall; Mary Faye McCall; Lance Miller; Barbara Miller; Edward O'Rourke; Kathryn O'Rourke; Frank Pargac; Debra Pargac; Alex Pezdek; Arlene Rawitscher; John B. Rowe; Jeffrey E. Shainock; Robert Tilotta; Thomas Tosoni; Bill W. Vernon; Shaun Wymes; Nancy Bell, Personal Representative of the Estate of Howard Earl Bell, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Robert A. Belfer; Norman P. Blake, Jr.; Ronnie C. Chan; John H. Duncan; Joe H. Foy; Wendy L. Gramm, M.D.; Robert K. Jaedicke; Charles A. Lemaistre; John Mendelsohn; Jerome J. Meyer; Paulo V. Ferraz Pereira; Frank Savage; John A. Urquhart; John Wakeham; Charles E. Walker; Herbert S. Winokur, Jr., Defendants-Appellees. Don L. Guy, Trustee for the Guy Family Living Trust; Jack Manning; Sue Manning; Mary H. Pearson; Curtis D. Robert; Grey Swindensky; Barry M. Wuntch; Dorothy Zeigfinger and Harold Zeigfinger, Co-trustees for the Harold & Dorothy Zeigfinger Family Trust; Charles H. Adderhold; Arnold Greenberg; Regan Yardley; Harold Spears; Suzanne C. Spears; Lenora Hartman; Joseph Hamer; Patricia A. Thomas; Alfred Urbanek; Adrienne Samuels; Robert Herzberg; Frances R. Mattingly; George J. Cooke; Debra C. Levenson; Willis Bartak; Joyce W. Richardson; Richard C. Kentopp; Jim Bemis; Rosanna Kaar; William P. Todsen; Joseph Tennaro; Theodore A. Marciniak; Martin Kaye and Judith Kaye, Trustees for the Kaye Family Trust; Stanley Jack Abrams; Lawrence P. Treadwell; Thomas J. Regan; Martha Sears, Personal Representative of the Estate of Kaylor Wilkins, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Robert A. Belfer; Norman P. Blake, Jr.; Richard B. Buy; Ronnie C. Chan; John H. Duncan; Joe H. Foy; Wendy L. Gramm, M.D.; Robert K. Jaedicke; Charles A. Lemaistre; John Mendelsohn; Jerome J. Meyer; Frank Savage; John A. Urquhart; John Wakeham; Charles E. Walker; Herbert S. Winokur, Jr., Defendants-Appellees. Cynthia L. Adams; Courtney L. Allen; Maria M. Altinger; Susan L. Davis; Wilda B. Davis; Mary Ann Fisher; Ruth E. Flournoy; Frank W. Gerold; Frank W. Gerold, on Behalf of the Estate of Patricia M. Gerold; Dorothy L. Pierce; Douglas P. Pierce; Gerald E. Sedlacek; Jeanette A. Sedlacek; Carl Tragesser; Robert F. Wohlfarth; Ernest J. Schwartz; Edith Schwarts; Vern C. Smith; Nancy S. Robertson; George Fraser; Maurine D. Fraser; Jacob J. Tamborello; Phyllis F. Tamborello; John W. Peterson; Carolyn Jane Peterson; William E. Tolson; Richard F. Miller; Peter Jennings; Stephen Jennings and Linda Jennings, Trustees for the Stephen and Linda Jennings Trust; Stephen O. Jennings, Trustee for the Susan Trust; Leroy W. Pickens; John A. Tuthill; Thomas K. Huiskamp; Robert W. Sloan; George C. Cauble, Jr.; Arun Misra; Jay Misra; Clyde Carpenter; Carolyn Carpenter, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Robert A. Belfer; Norman P. Blake, Jr.; Ronnie C. Chan; John H. Duncan; Joe H. Foy; Wendy L. Gramm, M.D.; Robert K. Jaedicke; Charles A. Lemaistre; John Mendelsohn; Jerome J. Meyer; Frank Savage; John A. Urquhart; John Wakeham; Charles E. Walker; Herbert S. Winokur, Jr., Certain Outside Director Defendants, Defendants-Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

May 30, 2008.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Gregory Sean Jez, Sylvia Gerald Davidow, Fleming & Associates, Houston, TX, Jonathan Standish Massey (argued), Bethesda, MD, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Kathy Dawn Patrick, Jennifer Horan Greer (argued), Jeremy Leon Doyle, Aundrea Kristine Frieden, Gibbs & Bruns, Houston, TX, for Defendants-Appellees.

John Wakeham, London, England, pro se.

Eric J.R. Nichols, Austin, TX, for Kopper,

John J. McKetta, III, Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody, Austin, TX, for Mark-Jusbasche.

Thomas Kirkendall, Law Offices of Tom Kirkendall, The Woodlands, TX, for Buy.

Before SMITH and PRADO, Circuit Judges, and LUDLUM, District Judge.


PRADO, Circuit Judge:

In this case we review an award of attorneys' fees that, regardless of our decision, will never be paid. Plaintiffs-Appellants brought this appeal, seeking vacatur of the district court's imposition of compensatory attorneys' fees in light of the settlement of their suit against Defendants-Appellees. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court with respect to its initial sanctions order but VACATE the attorneys' fees...

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