Carl Wesley Thomas v. Paul Bible

Carl Wesley Thomas, who unsuce$essfully charged the members of the Nevada Gaming Commission and others with violating his civil rights, appeals the district court’s award of attorneys’ fees to the defendants. Because the award is contrary to law, we reverse.

Thomas brought a § 1983 action in which he alleged that the Commission’s decision to exclude him from licensed gaming establishments violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and the Fourteenth Amendment guaranties of due process and equal protection of the laws. The district court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment in a thirty-two page order. 694 F.Supp. 750 . Thomas appealed and we affirmed the lower court’s decision in an unpublished memorandum disposition. 896 F.2d 555 . We held, inter alia, that Thomas’ appeal was not frivolous. Prior to our decision, the district court had entered an order staying defendants’ motion for attorneys’ fees until resolution of the appellate proceedings. Following our affirmance of its decision on the merits, the district court issued a one-page order granting defendants’ motion for fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 in the amount of $39,695.00.

A district court may…

dissenting:

Thomas, the appellant, was convicted of ten felonies arising out of skimming at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino. See United States v. DeLuna, 763 F.2d 897 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 980 , 106 S.Ct. 382 , 88 L.Ed.2d 336 (1985). In our previous decision in this case we described him as “the ringleader, who induced, instigated, and supervised his codefendants on how to skillfully skim from the casinos.” Thomas v. Bible, unpublished disposition, 896 F.2d 555 (9th Cir.1990), affirming 694 F.Supp. 750 (D.Nev.1988). Following our affirmance of summary judgment against Thomas, the district court awarded attorney’s fees to the Nevada Gaming Commission and the individuals that Thomas had sued.

The majority now holds that “the law of the case” prohibited the award of attorney’s fees in the district court because in the previous appeal we denied fees on appeal saying “[Ajttorney’s fees will be awarded if an appeal is entirely frivolous. Thomas’s appeal is not frivolous.” The majority concedes that there may be appeals that are not frivolous even though the underlying action is frivolous, but concludes that in this case the merits of the appeal were intertwined with the…

983 F.2d 152 Carl Wesley THOMAS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Paul BIBLE, et al., Defendants-Appellees. No. 90-15558. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted March 11, 1992. Decided Jan. 7, 1993. Bruce Judd, Las Vegas, NV, for plaintiff-appellant Gloria Stendardi, Deputy Atty. Gen., Las Vegas, NV, for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. Before: REINHARDT, NOONAN, and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges. REINHARDT, Circuit Judge: 1 Carl Wesley Thomas, who unsucc$essfully charged the members of the Nevada Gaming Commission and others with violating his civil rights, appeals the district court's award of attorneys' fees to the defendants. Because the award is contrary to law, we reverse. 2 Thomas brought a § 1983 action in which he alleged that the Commission's decision to exclude him from licensed gaming establishments violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and the Fourteenth Amendment guaranties of due process and equal protection of the laws. The district court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment in a thirty-two page order. 694 F.Supp. 750 . Thomas appealed and we…