Leah ROSENFELD, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY, a Delaware Corporation, Defendant-Appellant

The district court granted appellee declaratory and injunctive relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., Rosenfeld v. Southern Pacific Co., 293 F.Supp. 1219 (C.D.Cal.1968), but reserved judgment with respect to costs and attorneys’ fees. We affirmed on the merits. Rosenfeld v. Southern Pacific Co., 444 F.2d 1219 (9th Cir. 1971). The district court then entered judgment awarding appellee $30,000 as attorneys’ fees as part of her costs. This is an appeal from that judgment.

Section 706(k) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k), provides that in actions under the Act “the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party . a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs . . . .” Appellant nonetheless challenges the authority of the court to award attorneys’ fees in this case on a number of grounds.

Appellant’s principal argument rests upon the provision of section 713(b) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-12(b), that no person who acted in good faith reliance on a written interpretation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shall be subject to “liability or punishment,” and such a defense “shall be a bar to the action or…