Independent Federation of Flight Attendants v. Zipes et al.

Decided June 22, 1989. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-608 · 491 U.S. 754 (1989) · Cited 319 times

Holding

District courts may award Title VII attorney's fees against those who are not charged with Title VII violations but intervene to protect their own rights only where the intervention is frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Christiansburg Garment Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 434 U.S. 412 (1978)
• Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc. · 390 U.S. 400 (1968)
• Kentucky v. Graham · 473 U.S. 159 (1985)
• Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society · 421 U.S. 240 (1975)
• Martin v. Wilks · 490 U.S. 755 (1989)
• Hensley v. Eckerhart · 461 U.S. 424 (1983)
• Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. · 455 U.S. 385 (1982)
• Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co. · 424 U.S. 747 (1976)
• Supreme Court of Virginia v. Consumers Union of the United States, Inc. · 446 U.S. 719 (1980)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States · 431 U.S. 324 (1977)
• Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody · 422 U.S. 405 (1975)
• Ford Motor Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 458 U.S. 219 (1982)
• Northcross v. Memphis Board of Education · 412 U.S. 427 (1973)
• Texas State Teachers Ass'n v. Garland Independent School District · 489 U.S. 782 (1989)
• Diamond v. Charles · 476 U.S. 54 (1986)
• Maher v. Gagne · 448 U.S. 122 (1980)
• General Building Contractors Assn., Inc. v. Pennsylvania · 458 U.S. 375 (1982)
• Hanrahan v. Hampton · 446 U.S. 754 (1980)
• Sullivan v. Hudson · 490 U.S. 877 (1989)
• Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Independent Federation of Flight Attendants · 489 U.S. 426 (1989)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Martin v. Franklin Capital Corp. · 546 U.S. 132 (2005)
• Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. · 579 U.S. 197 (2016)
• Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. · 510 U.S. 517 (1994)
• Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc. · 579 U.S. 93 (2016)
• City of Burlington v. Dague · 505 U.S. 557 (1992)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Antonin Scalia’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1989). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).