49 Fair empl.prac.cas. 323, 49 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,880 Charles G. Criswell, Eugene R. Black v. Delta Air Lines, Inc.

This is a consolidated appeal of four awards of attorneys’ fees to the plaintiffs in actions to enforce an injunction. The enforcement actions, and the fee awards, were against Delta Air Lines, as successor to Western Airlines, the original target of the injunction. To make the issue clear, we must briefly recount the previous litigation.

The case began when certain pilots (“Criswell”) of Western Airlines brought an action against Western under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621-634 . In essence, the claim was that Western violated ADEA by refusing to permit pilots nearing the age of 60 to “down-bid” to positions of second officer (flight engineer), and by imposing a mandatory retirement age of 60 for second officers.

Criswell won in district court, and a permanent injunction was issued against Western Airlines. Criswell v. Western Air Lines, Inc., 514 F.Supp. 384 (C.D.Cal.1981). This court affirmed, 709 F.2d 544 (9th Cir.1983), as did the Supreme Court, 472 U.S. 400 , 105 S.Ct. 2743 , 86 L.Ed.2d 321 (1985).

Western Airlines was subsequently merged into Delta Airlines, and Western ceased to exist as a corporate entity on April 1, 1987. After the…