Mercantile National Bank at Dallas v. Bradford Trust Company, N/k/a Fidata Trust Company

JOHN R. BROWN, Circuit Judge:

The real question is whether a party prevailing in his successful application for declaratory relief is entitled as of course to attorney’s fees. We determine that attorney’s fees are recoverable by such a litigant only where they are recoverable under non-declaratory judgment circumstances — we hold recovery of attorney’s fees is confined to two situations: (i) where, under the restrictive American rule 1 attorney’s fees are allowed; and (ii) where controlling substantive law permits recovery. Neither of those two situations is the case here. Consequently, we…