Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Sage Realty Corp.

521 F. Supp. 263, 26 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1319, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14131, 26 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 32,072
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided August 26, 1981·No. 78 Civ. 4607 (RJW)·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

OPINION

ROBERT J. WARD, District Judge.

In an opinion filed January 29, 1981, following an eleven-day trial, the Court awarded Margaret Hasselman the sum of $33,141.75 in back pay and interest as compensation for defendants’ wrongfully discharging her in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“the Act”), as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-2000e-17. The Court held that defendants discriminated against Hasselman on the basis of sex when they required her to wear a sexually revealing outfit known as the Bicentennial uniform during her employment as a lobby attendant in a large midtown Manhattan office building. In its earlier opinion, which is published at 507 F.Supp. 599, the Court also determined to award Hasselman reasonable attorneys’ fees pursuant to section 706(k) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e— 5(k), and awarded costs to both Hasselman and plaintiff Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). 507 F.Supp. at 613. Hasselman’s application for attorneys’ fees and costs and the EEOC’s application for costs are now before the Court. An evidentiary hearing has been held. See City of Detroit v. Grinnell Corp., 495 F.2d 448, 468 (2d Cir. 1974).

The EEOC may recover costs pursuant to Rule 54(d), Fed.R.Civ.P. See Rios v. Steamfitters Local 638, 400 F.Supp. 993, 998 (S.D.N.Y.1975), aff’d, 542 F.2d 579 (2d Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 911, 97 S.Ct. *268 1186, 51 L.Ed.2d 588 (1977). Inasmuch as the costs sought by the EEOC are reasonable and were necessarily incurred in the prosecution of this litigation, they are properly recovered from defendants.

Plaintiff Hasselman seeks to recover for attorneys’ fees valued by her at $100,788.75. She also requests that this “lodestar” figure of $100,788.75 — obtained by multiplying the number of hours by an hourly rate for each lawyer, paraprofessional or law student involved — be adjusted upward by a multiplier of two, for a total fee award of $201,557.50. In addition, Hasselman seeks. to recover costs in the amount of $534.00.

Although Hasselman actually has not been billed $100,778.75, this lodestar figure represents the amount she claims she would have been billed had her private counsel charged her the full amount appropriate for the services rendered. The $100,778.75 total derives from 1243.50 hours of work by lawyers ($94,697.50 for 1000.25 hours) and by paraprofessionals and law students ($6081.25 for 243.25 hours). From June 1976 through November 1978, Hasselman was represented by the Queens Legal Services Corporation (“QLS”). Since November 1978, she has been represented by the National Employment Law Project (“Project”), a not-for-profit corporation that provides specialized legal services in employment law.

For the reasons that follow, the Court awards plaintiff Hasselman attorneys’ fees in the total amount of $90,365.00, plus costs of $534.00. The breakdown of this award is summarized in the Appendix to this opinion, Table 1. It is based on a lodestar figure of $69,585.00 and includes a bonus of 35 per cent of the lodestar. Of the total award, $2,683 is for services provided to Hasselman by QLS during the early stages of the litigation, and the balance is for the Project’s representation of plaintiff Hasselman.

Methodology and Criteria

The standard to be applied in the Second Circuit to determine an appropriate award for attorneys’ fees is set forth in City of Detroit v. Grinnell Corp., supra, 495 F.2d at 470-74. Under the Grinnell standard, the Court is to evaluate the number of hours spent by counsel and to ascertain a reasonable rate for counsel’s time. In addition, the Court must assess the risks of litigation and the novelty, complexity and importance of the issues litigated, to determine if the lodestar figure of reasonable rate multiplied by the time allowed should be increased by a bonus or contingency multiplier. Id. at 471-472. See also Ste. Marie v. Eastern Railroad Association, 497 F.Supp. 800, 812-13 (S.D.N.Y.1980), rev’d and remanded on other grounds, 650 F.2d 395 (2d Cir. 1981). Although in this circuit the court of appeals has yet to specify criteria to be considered in determining an appropriate fee award, at the suggestion of the parties the Court has considered the Fifth Circuit’s criteria, see Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc., 488 F.2d 714 (5th Cir. 1974); accord, Anthony v. Marion County General Hospital, 617 F.2d 1164, 1171 (5th Cir. 1980), and the factors listed in the ABA Code of Professional Responsibility, D.R. 2 — 106(B).

Defendants argue that an attorneys’ fee award in this case should be limited to a percentage of the amount recovered by plaintiff Hasselman. They suggest that Hasselman be awarded no more than the customary contingent fee in New York of one-third of the amount recovered, or in this case about $11,000. Defendants’ argument is without merit. It is by now well settled that, although the size of the recovery is a factor that may be considered by the Court, an award of attorneys’ fees is not to be based on the amount recovered. See City of Detroit v. Grinnell Corp., supra, 495 F.2d at 468-74.

Similarly without merit is defendants’ further argument that any amount of attorneys’ fees that would otherwise be awarded here must, be reduced because the Project receives substantial governmental funding. This very contention was rejected by the court of appeals in EEOC v. Steamfitters Local 638, 542 F.2d 579, 592-93 (2d *269 Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 911, 97 S.Ct. 1186, 51 L.Ed.2d 588 (1977), a case involving a fee application in which the plaintiffs were represented by the Project. The court in Steamfitters held only that the factor of public funding may be considered in a district court’s determination of an attorneys’ fee award, and that it was not an abuse of discretion for the lower court to award less to the Project than it would have awarded to a non-federally funded law firm. Id. at 593. In this Court’s view, plaintiff Hasselman should recover an award of attorneys’ fees on the same basis as if she had been represented by private counsel.

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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Sage Realty Corp., 521 F. Supp. 263, 26 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1319, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14131, 26 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 32,072 (S.D.N.Y. 1981).

521 F. Supp. 263 (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Sage Realty Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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