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Civil Liability of Law Enforcement Agencies
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Attorneys' Fees: Procedural Under Section 1988
Monthly Law Journal Article: Attorneys'
Fees in Federal Civil Rights Lawsuits: An Introduction - Part One , 2011 (4) AELE Mo. L.
J. 101
Monthly Law Journal Article: Attorneys'
Fees in Federal Civil Rights Lawsuits: An Introduction - Part Two, 2011 (5) AELE Mo. L.
J. 101
A federal appeals
court ordered a recalculation of the proper amount of attorneys’ fees to
award after a settlement in an excessive force federal civil rights lawsuit.
The trial court awarded just 10 percent of the fees that the plaintiff claimed.
The court ruled that, given the size of the 90 percent reduction in
attorneys’ fees, the trial court’s explanation was inadequate. A
significant reduction requires a more thorough explanation, and the trial court
did not adequately justify the dramatic cut that it imposed here. It appeared
to have applied a “mechanical” approach, assuming that just because
the plaintiff settled for only 10 percent of what he had initially sought that
his lead lawyer should only recover 10 percent of the requested fees. But the
$99,999 settlement was far more than a “nuisance” settlement. Vargas v. Howell, #18-15513, 2020 U.S. App. Lexis
3655, 2020
WL 562285 (9th Cir.).
Civil rights plaintiff solely seeking
monetary damages who was awarded only $1 in nominal damages was a
"prevailing party," but was not entitled to attorneys' fee award of
$280,000; Court states that, in such cases, "the only reasonable fee is
usually no fee at all" Farrar v. Hobby, 113 S.Ct. 566 (1992).
Civil rights plaintiff was properly denied any
attorneys' fee award even though he was awarded $1,000 for false arrest, based
on "special circumstances," including number of unsuccessful claims,
and an "inexcusable reaching for fees" too "extreme to be
tolerated" Lewis v. Kendrick, 940 F.2d 25 (1st Cir. 1991).
Seventh Circuit holds that expert witness fees
are recoverable under civil rights attorney fee statute Friedrich v. City of
Chicago, 888 F.2d 511 (7th Cir. 1989).
Plaintiff awarded attorney's fees against
defendant sheriff Dickerson v. Pritchard, 551 F.Supp. 306 (WD Ark 1983).
Although attorneys were entitled to fees for bringing inmate's civil action,
they were not entitled to fees for having defended inmate against criminal
charges as a prerequisite to bringing civil action Greer v. Holt, 718 F.2d 206
(6th Cir 1983).