Burke v. Mattis

315 F. Supp. 3d 907
District Court, E.D. Virginia·Decided June 4, 2018·No. Case No. 1:16–cv–1256·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

Liam O'Grady, United States District Judge

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff's Motion for Attorney's Fees (Dkt. 139) and Bill of Costs (Dkt. 138). The motion for attorney's fees is fully briefed and the Court heard oral argument on April 6, 2018. For the reasons below and for good cause shown, the motion for attorney's fees is GRANTED. The Court awards Plaintiff attorney's fees of $336,034.32, nontaxable costs of $29,871.12, and taxable costs of $17,143.58.

I. Background

Following a seven day trial, a jury returned a verdict in favor of Plaintiff Patricia *911Burke, finding that Ms. Burke's employer, the Defense Security Service (DSS), subjected her to a retaliatory hostile work environment in violation of Title VII and the Rehabilitation Act after she filed a formal complaint of gender discrimination. She was awarded $1 in damages. Evidence presented at trial included testimony that William Stephens, a manager at DSS supervising Ms. Burke, directly retaliated against Ms. Burke; that Mr. Stephens discussed with another DSS manager a tactic of isolating and harming the self-esteem of employees who file complaints; that Mr. Stephens previously retaliated against DSS employees using those tactics; that DSS managers interfered with the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Office investigation into Ms. Burke's complaints; and that the EEO Office was aligned under the DSS Director's Chief of Staff instead of immediately under the Director. Accordingly, Plaintiff sought and the Court granted injunctive relief. The granted relief was designed to broadly address apparent deficiencies in DSS's EEO program as well as to specifically ensure that Ms. Burke could no longer be subject to retaliation under the supervision of the same individuals who retaliated against her in the first place.

Plaintiff has now moved for an award of attorney's fees of $406,085.28, nontaxable costs of $33,182.08, and taxable costs of $18,508.97.

II. Legal Standard

Under the American Rule, a prevailing litigant is generally not entitled to recover attorney's fees from the non-prevailing litigant unless a statute or contract provides otherwise. Baker Botts L.L.P. v. ASARCO LLC , --- U.S. ----, 135 S.Ct. 2158, 2164, 192 L.Ed.2d 208 (2015). The Court has discretion to award attorney's fees in successful Title VII cases. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). If a party is entitled to recover attorney's fees, to calculate the award the Court "must first determine a lodestar figure by multiplying the number of reasonable hours expended times a reasonable rate." Robinson v. Equifax Info. Servs., LLC , 560 F.3d 235, 243 (4th Cir. 2009). In determining the reasonable number of hours and a reasonable rate, the court may consider the twelve factors set out in Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express Inc. :

(1) The time and labor expended; (2) the novelty and difficulty of the questions raised; (3) the skill required to properly perform the legal services rendered; (4) the attorney's opportunity costs in pressing the instant litigation; (5) the customary fee for like work; (6) the attorney's expectations at the outset of the litigation; (7) the time limitations imposed by the client or circumstances; (8) the amount in controversy and the results obtained; (9) the experience, reputation, and ability of the attorney; (10) the undesirability of the case within the legal community in which the suit arose; (11) the nature and length of the professional relationship between attorney and client; and (12) attorneys' fees awards in similar cases.

488 F.2d 714, 717-19 (5th Cir. 1974). Although each of the twelve factors carries persuasive weight, "[t]he Court need not address all twelve ... factors independently" because they are each ultimately "subsumed" into the evaluation of what represents a reasonable rate and number of hours expended. Smith v. Loudoun Cty. Pub. Sch. , 2017 WL 176510 at *2 (E.D. Va. Jan. 17, 2017) (quoting Wells Fargo Bank, Nat. Ass'n v. Walls , 2013 WL 869902 at *2 (E.D. Va. Mar. 4, 2013), aff'd sub nom , 543 Fed.Appx. 350 (4th Cir. 2013) ). There is "a strong presumption that the lodestar represents the reasonable fee." City of Burlington v. Dague , 505 U.S. 557, 562, 112 S.Ct. 2638, 120 L.Ed.2d 449 (1992) (internal quotation marks omitted). After the *912lodestar figure is calculated, "the court must subtract fees for hours spent on unsuccessful claims unrelated to successful ones." McAfee v. Boczar , 738 F.3d 81, 88 (4th Cir. 2013). Finally, the court "award[s] some percentage of the remaining amount, depending on the degree of success enjoyed by the plaintiff." Id.

III. Discussion

This memorandum sets forth Plaintiff's entitlement to the requested fees, the reasonableness of those fees, and Plaintiff's entitlement to costs.

A. Entitlement to Fees

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Burke v. Mattis, 315 F. Supp. 3d 907 (E.D. Va. 2018).

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