Campbell v. District of Columbia

202 F. Supp. 3d 121, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99309, 2016 WL 4074128
District Court, District of Columbia·Decided July 29, 2016·No. Civil Action No. 2012-1769·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Re Document No.: 84

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN Part Plaintiff’s Motion for Fees and Costs

RUDOLPH CONTRERAS, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Dr. Jennifer Campbell brought suit against her former employer, the District of Columbia, in 2012. See Compl., ECF No.l. Dr. Campbell alleged, that the District acted unlawfully when, amidst allegations that Dr. Campbell had steered contracts, the District terminated her employment as Chief Operating Officer of the District’s Department of Health Care Finance. See id. ¶¶ 6-99. After a five-day jury trial held in December 2015, a jury found for Dr. Campbell on her constitutional claim, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Verdict Form at 2, ECF No. 65. The jury awarded Dr. Campbell *125 $250,000.00 in compensatory damages for her physical pain, emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, inconvenience, and medical expenses. See id. at 3; see also Jury Instrs. at 39-40, ECF No. 66 (instructing the jury to award monetary damages for physical pain, emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, inconvenience, and medical expenses, but not for lost wages or other employment benefits). The Court added $304,823 in financial damages to which the District had stipulated. See Joint Pretrial Statement at 2, ECF No. 41.

Dr. Campbell now moves for attorney’s fees and costs under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, and she also urges the Court to adopt an enhancement multiplier. See Pl.’s Mem. P. & A. Supp. Mot. Fees & Costs at 1-2, ECF No. 84-2 [hereinafter Pl.’s Mem.]; PL’s Reply Defi’s Opp’n PL’s Mot. Fees & Costs at 3, 10-13, ECF No. 101 [hereinafter PL’s Reply]. The District agrees that Dr. Campbell should receive a fee award, but it argues that her requested fees and costs are too high and that an enhancement is not appropriate. See D.C.’s Opp’n PL’s Mot. Attorneys’ Fees at 1, ECF No. 96 [hereinafter Defi’s Opp’n]. The Court concludes that, for the most part, Dr. Campbell’s requested fees are, in light of her voluntary reductions, reasonable. But the Court declines to award fees for duplica-tive time spent at trial and will make minor additional reductions to account for aberrations in Dr. Campbell’s attorneys’ billing records. The Court also determines that an enhancement is not appropriate and that Dr. Campbell’s requested costs include inappropriate items. Accordingly, the Court will grant in part and deny in part Dr. Campbell’s motion.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

In a civil rights suit brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the district court may, in its discretion, award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party. 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b); Talley v. District of Columbia, 433 F.Supp.2d 5, 7 (D.D.C.2006). In doing so, the Court follows a two-step inquiry: first, the court must determine whether the party seeking attorney’s fees is the prevailing party; second, the court must determine whether the requested fees are reasonable. See Turner v. D.C. Bd. of Elections & Ethics, 354 F.3d 890, 895 (D.C.Cir.2004)) (“The plaintiff ... bears the burden of establishing both entitlement to an award of attorney’s fees as well as the amount properly due.”).

A prevailing party “is one who has been awarded some relief by a court.” Buckhannon Bd. & Care Home, Inc. v. W. Va. Dep’t of Health & Human Res., 532 U.S. 598, 603, 121 S.Ct. 1835, 149 L.Ed.2d 855 (2001). A litigant need not succeed at every step of the litigation to be a prevailing party under § 1988; indeed, “a litigant Vho is unsuccessful at a stage of litigation that was a necessary step to her ultimate victory is entitled to attorney’s fees even for the unsuccessful stage.’ ” Air Transp. Ass’n of Can. v. FAA, 156 F.3d 1329, 1335 (D.C.Cir.1998) (quoting Cobrales v. Cty. of L.A., 935 F.2d 1050, 1053 (9th Cir.1991)).

If the Court determines that a plaintiff is the prevailing party, the court must then determine whether the fees sought are reasonable. See 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b); Turner, 354 F.3d at 895. “The most useful starting point for determining the amount of a reasonable fee is the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate.” Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). The plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating that the number of hours spent on a particular task is reasonable. See Role Models Am., Inc. v. Brownlee, 353 F.3d 962, 969-70 (D.C.Cir.2004) (citing Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 896 n. 11, 104 S.Ct. 1541, 79 L.Ed.2d 891 (1984)). To that end, the plaintiffs “supporting docu *126 mentation must be of sufficient detail and probative value to enable the court to determine with a high degree of certainty that such hours were actually and reasonably expended.” Id. at 970 (quoting In re Olson, 884 F.2d 1415, 1428 (D.C.Cir.1989) (brackets and internal quotation marks omitted)). The district court should exclude from a fee request “hours that were not ‘reasonably expended,’” including hours “that are excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary.” Hensley, 461 U.S. at 434, 103 S.Ct. 1933 (quoting S. Rep. No. 94-1101, at 6 (1976)).

A plaintiff can demonstrate a reasonable hourly rate (or “lodestar”) by submitting evidence of “the attorneys’ billing practices; the attorneys’ skill, experience, and reputation; and the prevailing market rates in the relevant community.” Covington v. District of Columbia, 57 F.3d 1101, 1107 (D.C.Cir.1995). In this circuit, plaintiffs may also demonstrate a reasonable hourly rate by relying on evidence such as an updated version of the Laffey Matrix created by the United States Attorney’s Office. Id. at 1109. 1

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Campbell v. District of Columbia, 202 F. Supp. 3d 121, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99309, 2016 WL 4074128 (D.D.C. 2016).

202 F. Supp. 3d 121 (Campbell v. District of Columbia) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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