Partial Fee Request Granted Because Plaintiff’s Counsel Admitted Prosecution Of The Case Successfully Was Not Possible At A Definite Point In The Case.
Under 42 U.S.C. §1988, a district judge, in his or her discretion, may award attorney’s fees to a prevailing defendant where the court finds plaintiff’s claims to be frivolous, unreasonableness, or groundless. There are important timing nuances here: that determination can be based upon circumstances existing at the commencement of the case or during the subsequent prosecution of the case where it becomes clear that the civil rights claims lack merit. Ammari v. City of Norwalk, et al., Case No. 2:22-cv-01319-SSS-MARx (C.D. Cal. Sept. 28, 2023) (order granting in part defendant’s motion for attorney’s fees) is an example of a partial fee award being granted because of the second timing nuance.
There, Plaintiff’s § 1988 complaint was not frivolous when filed, but became so by a certain point in time after Plaintiff’s counsel admitted in opposition to the fee motion that he could not obtain facts to support the claims, such that City of South Gate had to continue litigation for a few months, including attendance at unsuccessful mediations and preparation of a summary judgment motion which was granted. Using the lodestar analysis, U.S. District Judge Sunshine S. Sykes found that the requested hourly rate for three experienced attorneys was reasonable for the work and that each attorney did separate tasks such that no reduction was necessary for duplication, leading to a partial fee award of $29,000 for the time post-dating when prosecution of the case was without basis.
BLOG HAT TIP—Because such fee awards are infrequent, we congratulate Raul F. Salinas, Rick Navarette, and Monisha Coelho of Frost Brown Todd LLP’s Los Angeles office on the result, with Ms. Coelho being the lead attorney on the fees motion.
Comments