Brown v. Flowers

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Oklahoma
DecidedApril 14, 2023
Docket6:17-cv-00347
StatusUnknown

This text of Brown v. Flowers (Brown v. Flowers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Flowers, (E.D. Okla. 2023).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA

BRITTNEY BROWN

Plaintiff, vs. Case No. 17-CV-347-EFM

ROGER FLOWERS,

Defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER Before the Court is Plaintiff Brittney Brown’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees (Doc. 231). After a three-day jury trial on Plaintiff’s Fourteenth Amendment claim against Defendant Roger Flowers, the jury found in favor of Plaintiff and awarded her $75,000. Plaintiff now moves for an award of attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 in the amount of $155,748.50, plus an upward adjustment of $77,874.25. Because an upward adjustment is not warranted in this case and because the lodestar fee request must be reduced for a variety of reasons, the Court grants Plaintiff’s motion only in part and awards Plaintiff $121,452.50 in attorney’s fees. The Court also directs the Clerk of the Court to tax the requested $5,718.26 in costs, as laid out in Plaintiff’s Bill of Costs (Doc. 232). I. Factual and Procedural Background Plaintiff brought this case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Defendants Roger Flowers, Mike Sinnett, and Pontotoc County Sheriff John Christian for violations of her Fourteenth Amendment rights. She alleged that Flowers, a guard, raped her twice while she was a pre-trial detainee in the Pontotoc County Justice Center. She further alleged that Sinnett, then the jail administrator of the

Pontotoc County Justice Center, retaliated against her for reporting these rapes and was also liable as Flowers’ supervisor, and that Sheriff Christian was liable both individually and as a supervisor. The Court granted summary judgment in full to both Sinnett and Sheriff Christian. Flowers, by contrast, achieved only partial success, as the Court granted his request to dismiss the issue of punitive damages but denied his assertion of qualified immunity. Plaintiff proceeded to trial against Flowers. After a three-day jury trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Plaintiff in the amount of $75,000 on her sole claim that Flowers raped her in violation of her Fourteenth Amendment rights. Within two weeks after judgment was entered, Plaintiff moved for an award of attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. She thereafter filed a

notice of appeal as to the judgment and the Court’s three summary judgment orders. II. Legal Standard In an action to enforce § 1983, “the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs.”1 A “prevailing party” is one who has “succeeded on any significant issue in litigation which achieved some of the benefit

1 42 U.S.C. § 1988. the parties sought in bringing suit.”2 Defendant does not dispute that Plaintiff is the prevailing party in this action. A reasonable attorney’s fee under § 1988 is determined by a “deceptively simple mathematical equation:”3 the hours reasonably expended during the litigation multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate.4 Courts refer to this amount as the “lodestar,” as it is the “guiding light”

in determining a reasonable fee. There is a strong presumption that the lodestar amount is a reasonable fee.5 After determining the lodestar, the Court must consider whether an adjustment, either upward or downward, is necessary to arrive at a reasonable fee. The factors set forth in Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc.,6 are helpful in determining whether an adjustment is appropriate.7 These factors are: (1) time and labor required; (2) novelty and difficulty of the questions presented in the case; (3) skill required to perform the legal services properly; (4) preclusion of other employment by the attorneys because they accept engagement in the case; (5) customary fee; (6) whether the fee is fixed or contingent; (7) any time limitations imposed by the client or circumstances; (8) amount involved and results obtained; (9) experience, reputation, and ability of the attorneys; (10) undesirability of the case; (11) nature and length of the professional relationship with the client; and (12) awards in similar cases.8

2 Tex. State Teachers Ass’n v. Garland Indep. Sch. Dist., 489 U.S. 782, 791-92 (1989) (internal alteration and quotations omitted). 3 Dartez v. Peters, 2022 WL 2817601, at *6 (D. Kan. 2022). 4 Flitton v. Primary Residential Mortg., Inc., 614 F.3d 1173, 1176 (10th Cir. 2010) (citation omitted). 5 Homeward Bound, Inc. v. Hissom Mem’l Ctr., 963 F.2d 1352, 1355 (10th Cir. 1992) (quoting Pennsylvania v. Del. Valley Citizens’ Council for Clean Air, 478 U.S. 546, 565 (1986), as supplemented, 483 U.S. 711 (1987)). 6 488 F.2d 714 (5th Cir. 1974), abrogated in part on other grounds by Blanchard v. Bergeron, 489 U.S. 87, 90 (1989)). 7 Anchondo v. Anderson, Crenshaw & Assocs., L.L.C., 616 F.3d 1098, 1103 (10th Cir. 2010 (noting that “under appropriate circumstances [the Johnson factors] may be useful in determining subsequent ad hoc adjustments to the lodestar.”). 8 Cecil v. BP Am. Prod. Co., 2018 WL 8367957, at *4 (E.D. Okla. 2018). Although the court may consider each factor, it need not consider those factors “subsumed within the initial calculation of hours reasonably expended at a reasonable hourly rate.”9 This is because the lodestar amount should be the primary consideration when determining fee award.10 It is the burden of the party seeking attorney’s fees to “establish the reasonableness of each dollar, each hour, above zero.11 A “reasonable attorney’s fee is one that is adequate to attract

competent counsel, but . . . that does not produce windfalls to attorneys.”12 While an evidentiary hearing is “generally preferred” when a motion for attorney’s fees raises factual disputes, the Court may decide such a motion without a hearing based on its familiarity with the case, so long as the parties are given “ample opportunity to brief and argue” the motion and provide pertinent affidavits.13 Even after a notice of appeal is filed, the district court retains jurisdiction of over collateral matters such as the propriety and amount of an award of attorney’s fees.14

9 Id. (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). 10 Id. (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). 11 Mares v. Credit Bureau of Raton, 801 F.2d 1197, 1210 (10th Cir. 1986). 12 Three RP Ltd. P'ship v. Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc., 2019 WL 7717395, at *1 (E.D. Okla. 2019). 13 Michael A. Cramer, MAI, SRPA, Inc. v. United States, 47 F.3d 379, 383 (10th Cir. 1995) (citing cases). 14 Lancaster v. Indep. Sch. Dist. No.

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Brown v. Flowers, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-flowers-oked-2023.