AELE LAW LIBRARY OF CASE SUMMARIES:
Civil Liability
of Law Enforcement Agencies & Personnel


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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).


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