Diamond Waste, Inc. v. Monroe County

908 F. Supp. 974, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18464, 1995 WL 728176
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 6, 1995
Docket5:91-cv-379-2 (WDO)
StatusPublished

This text of 908 F. Supp. 974 (Diamond Waste, Inc. v. Monroe County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Diamond Waste, Inc. v. Monroe County, 908 F. Supp. 974, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18464, 1995 WL 728176 (M.D. Ga. 1995).

Opinion

ORDER

OWENS, District Judge.

Before the court is plaintiffs motion for attorney fees, brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988. After careful consideration of the arguments of counsel, the relevant caselaw, and the record as a whole, the court issues the following order.

On October SO, 1991, defendants passed an ordinance regulating the importation of waste into Monroe County, Georgia. Plaintiff Diamond Waste, Inc., (“DWI”) sued the county, claiming that its conduct was unconstitutional. By order dated May 12, 1992, the court granted plaintiff preliminary in-junctive relief, denied defendants’ summary judgment motion as to plaintiffs procedural and substantive due process challenges, and granted defendants’ summary judgment motion on plaintiffs facial invalidity claim.

Subsequent changes in controlling precedent caused the court to reverse course. Thus the court ruled that the ordinance was facially invalid under the Commerce Clause. Defendants filed two appeals in the Eleventh Circuit, one challenging the court’s pronouncement of the ordinance facially invalid, and the other from the court’s denial of summary judgment on procedural and substantive due process grounds. While these issues were before the Eleventh Circuit, plaintiff sought a declaration from this court that DWI was entitled to permanent injunc-tive relief and that it was entitled to summary judgment on its procedural and substantive due process claims. The court refrained from ruling on these issues pending the outcome of the appeals. See Diamond Waste, Inc. v. Monroe County, 869 F.Supp. 944, 946 (M.D.Ga.1994).

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed this court’s decision on the facial invalidity issue, and denied as moot the appeal of the preliminary injunction. Upon remand, this court denied as moot plaintiffs motion for summary judgment on procedural and substantive due process grounds.

Plaintiffs counsel filed his motion for attorney fees on April 13, 1995. On May 12, 1995, the court ruled that all pending motions, except for that pertaining to the award of attorney fees, were moot. Also filed with the attorney fees motion was a brief in support thereof that appropriately addressed the Johnson factors. On page five of that brief [tab # 105] the applicant has listed a “summary” of hours expended, and attached to the brief are two exhibits, copies of appellate decisions. This is the only place where any attempt is made by applicant to break down charges for services into temporal increments.

The instant motion has progressed in three stages. As noted, plaintiff filed its motion for attorney fees on April 18, 1995. In support of this were affidavits and a legal brief. Each affiant stated that he dr she had “carefully reviewed the activities and time summaries setting forth the hours ... incurred” and had “specifically reviewed the time summaries and activity sheets to ensure that each hour listed was incurred” during the course of the matter sub judice. Further, each affiant stated that the work performed was “reasonable and necessary” to the successful representation of the client. Defendants do not dispute plaintiffs eligibility for a fee award; however, they did contest the amount of plaintiffs claim. Specifically, defendant showed the court that (1) plaintiffs “activity logs” contained charges for services performed before the date of the challenged conduct, (2) the activity logs listed services rendered in the course of matters unrelated to the matter sub judice, (3) many entries in the activity logs were vague, nonspecific, and bore no rational relation to issues involved in this litigation, and (4) some entries in the activity logs simply could not have been authentic.

The court agreed with the examples , cited by defendant, and ordered plaintiffs counsel [976]*976to submit a supplemental itemization of services within fifteen (15) days. The court’s order specified that the supplemental itemization should do two things. First, all services obviously rendered in other matters should be omitted. Second, counsel should describe “the services claim with sufficient detail to allow the court and the defendants to determine the connection between the services claimed and this action.”

Plaintiff filed amended affidavits. Plaintiff did redact those charges that defendants had given as examples of matters for which it should not be required to pay. One affiant, attorney L. Robert Lovett, who served as lead counsel, stated that in 1991-92 his hourly rate was $100, and that it increased to $125 for 1993-94. On his time sheet, no times are provided; only a dollar figure is stated for each service. The descriptions of particular services rendered were no more specific than those initially submitted, and did not provide any additional detail to assist the court in determining the propriety of charges.

Defendants again objected on the same grounds, and once again requested the court to order a more detailed description of services. The court agreed that plaintiffs supplemental submission was “clearly not in compliance with the court’s order,” and ordered plaintiff to show cause within fifteen (15) days why attorney fees should not be denied altogether. Plaintiffs legal brief in response to the show cause order contends that they are “entitled” to an award of fees, that the court has “exceedingly narrow” discretion to deny such an award, and “concludes” that its claim of fees, being reasonable and justified, has not been contradicted by defendant.

The starting point for calculation of a fee award is to “multiply [1] the number of hours reasonably expended by a [2] reasonable hourly rate.” Loranger v. Stierheim, 10 F.3d 776, 781 (11th Cir.1994) (citing Hensley, infra). Although courts at one time were required to consider several factors enumerated in Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc., 488 F.2d 714, 717-19 (5th Cir.1974), in calculating the award, the lodestar formula has displaced that method. Loranger, 10 F.3d at 781 n. 6.

According to prevailing jurisprudence, the “party seeking the award of attorney fees has the burden of submitting evidence supporting the hours worked and the rates claimed.” Webb v. Dyer County Bd. of Educ., 471 U.S. 234, 242, 105 S.Ct. 1923, 1928, 85 L.Ed.2d 233, 241 (1985) (internal quotation marks omitted). The time that is compensable is that “reasonably expended on the litigation.” Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 1939, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). In deciding whether a fee applicant has satisfied its evidentiary burden with regard to the number of hours reasonably expended, the Eleventh Circuit has held that “contemporaneous time records are not indispensable where there is other reliable evidence to support a claim for attorney’s fees.” Jean v. Nelson, 863 F.2d 759, 772 (11th Cir.1988) (citing Johnson v. University College, 706 F.2d 1205, 1207 (11th Cir.), cert. denied,

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Related

Hensley v. Eckerhart
461 U.S. 424 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Webb v. County Board of Education
471 U.S. 234 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Marie Lucie Jean v. Alan C. Nelson
863 F.2d 759 (Eleventh Circuit, 1988)
Geowaste of Georgia, Inc. v. Tanner
875 F. Supp. 830 (M.D. Georgia, 1995)
Diamond Waste, Inc. v. Monroe County, Ga.
869 F. Supp. 944 (M.D. Georgia, 1994)
Loranger v. Stierheim
10 F.3d 776 (Eleventh Circuit, 1994)
Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc.
488 F.2d 714 (Fifth Circuit, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
908 F. Supp. 974, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18464, 1995 WL 728176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diamond-waste-inc-v-monroe-county-gamd-1995.