Air Turbine Technology v. Atlas Copco AB
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
decided on 2009-04-24 00:00:00
panel: Schall, Plager, Prost,
Overview
In Air Turbine Technology v. Atlas Copco (08-1290), the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit determined that, under Florida law, a contract providing "legal costs and expenses" to the prevailing party in any litigation arising out of a breach of the contract includes attorney fees. The court reversed the district court on this point, but agreed with the district court that the contractually-based award was limited to expenses related to a breach of contract claim and did not extend to expenses related to a patent infringement claim. Judge Plager, writing in dissent, expressed discontent with the majority's willingness to overrule the district court judge, who "has been interpreting Florida state law for many years." Judge Plager would have affirmed in all respects.
Keywords
attorney fees - Reversing the district court, the Federal Circuit construed a contract providing for "legal costs and expenses" as including attorney fees, but determined that the district court had properly limited that contractually-based recovery to a breach of contract claim and excluding a patent infringement claim.
