Each Party Will Bear Its Own Costs Rule In Arizona

In Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 258-59, 95 S. Ct. 1612, 44 L. Ed. 2d 141 (1975), the Supreme Court "affirmed the continuing vitality of the 'American Rule' that requires each party to bear the cost of its own attorneys' fees absent express statutory authority," but noted the following exceptions in federal courts: "(1) the common fund doctrine applies; (2) a party willfully disobeys a court order; or; (3) a party acts in bad faith." State v. Meza, 203 Ariz. 50, P 51, 50 P.3d 407, 418 (App. 2002) (Hall, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part), quoting Alyeska Pipeline, 421 U.S. at 258-59. and in Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 50, 111 S. Ct. 2123, 115 L. Ed. 2d 27 (1991), the Court held that although a federal court "ordinarily should rely on the Rules" if they apply to bad faith conduct at issue, "if in the informed discretion of the court, neither the federal statute nor the Rules are up to the task, the court may safely rely on its inherent power." According to the Court, the inherent power to sanction is "'governed not by rule or statute but by the control necessarily vested in courts to manage their own affairs so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases.'" Id. at 43, quoting Link v. Wabash R.R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 630-31, 82 S. Ct. 1386, 8 L. Ed. 2d 734 (1962).