Skip to Content

Third Circuit Affirms District Court's Denial of Attorneys' Fees Absent a Valid Statutory or Contractual Right to Additional Fees
September 01, 2020

Betty Frison invented a product related to hair weaving and subsequently entered into an agreement with Davison Design to promote her product. The agreement required that the parties arbitrate any dispute. After believing Davison Design misrepresented the financial gain that she would realize from the product, Frison initiated arbitration against Davison Design, pursuing a claim under the American Inventors Protection Act.

Frison received an award of more than $13,000 in damages and $10,000 in attorneys' fees. Davison Design then filed an application in federal court under sections 10 and 11 of the Federal Arbitration Act to vacate or modify the award. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania denied Davison Design's application, and Frison sought additional attorneys' fees for successfully upholding the arbitration award. The district court rejected Frison's request, and Frison appealed.

On appeal, Frison argued that the attorneys' fees provision of the American Inventors Protection Act entitled her to fees for upholding the arbitration award. Relying on the "American Rule," which provides that each party bear its own attorneys' fees unless a statute or contract provides otherwise, the Third Circuit found that Frison did not have a basis in statute or contract to recover fees for successfully defending the arbitration award. Although the fee-shifting provision of the American Inventors Protection Act allows the recovery of attorneys' fees "in a civil action against the invention promoter," the Third Circuit held that this action was brought by the invention promoter not under the American Inventors Protection Act for damages, but under the Federal Arbitration Act to vacate or modify an arbitration award.

Accordingly, the Third Circuit found that the district court did not err in denying Frison's request for additional attorney's fees.

Davison Design & Development Inc. v. Frison, No. 19-2045 (3d Cir. Aug. 11, 2020).
Related Practices
Reinsurance
©2026 Carlton Fields, P.A. Carlton Fields practices law in California through Carlton Fields, LLP. Carlton Fields publications should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances. The contents are intended for general information and educational purposes only, and should not be relied on as if it were advice about a particular fact situation. The distribution of this publication is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship with Carlton Fields. This publication may not be quoted or referred to in any other publication or proceeding without the prior written consent of the firm, to be given or withheld at our discretion. To request reprint permission for any of our publications, please use our Contact Us form via the link below. The views set forth herein are the personal views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the firm. This site may contain hypertext links to information created and maintained by other entities. Carlton Fields does not control or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this outside information, nor is the inclusion of a link to be intended as an endorsement of those outside sites.

Disclaimer

The information on this website is presented as a service for our clients and Internet users and is not intended to be legal advice, nor should you consider it as such. Although we welcome your inquiries, please keep in mind that merely contacting us will not establish an attorney-client relationship between us. Consequently, you should not convey any confidential information to us until a formal attorney-client relationship has been established. Please remember that electronic correspondence on the internet is not secure and that you should not include sensitive or confidential information in messages. With that in mind, we look forward to hearing from you.