Gudenkauf v. Stauffer Communications, Inc.

953 F. Supp. 1237, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1415, 77 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1735, 1997 WL 50519
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJanuary 30, 1997
Docket94-4228-SAC
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 953 F. Supp. 1237 (Gudenkauf v. Stauffer Communications, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gudenkauf v. Stauffer Communications, Inc., 953 F. Supp. 1237, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1415, 77 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1735, 1997 WL 50519 (D. Kan. 1997).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

CROW, Senior District Judge.

This case comes before the court on the plaintiffs motion for costs and attorney fees (Dk. 93); the plaintiffs statement of consultation for costs and attorney’s fees (Dk. 104); the defendant Stauffer Communications, Inc.’s (“Stauffer’s”) objection to the plaintiffs statement for costs and fees (Dk. 107); and the plaintiffs reply (Dk. 108). BACKGROUND

The plaintiff brought this employment discrimination action alleging the employer, Stauffer Communications, Inc. (“Stauffer”) terminated her employment on the basis of her sex, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(A)(l), et seq.; on the basis of her pregnancy in violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (“PDA”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k), et seq.; and on the basis of her disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq. The plaintiff also claimed that Stauffer denied her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (“FMLA”), 29 U.S.C. § 2601, et seq. The plaintiff also sued Stauffer and Christy Skinner for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In its order filed February 8, 1996, the court dismissed the plaintiffs claim against both Stauffer and Christy Skinner for intentional infliction of emotional distress. (Dk. 63). In its order filed February 13, 1996, Gudenkauf v. Stauffer Communications, Inc., 922 F.Supp. 465 (D.Kan.1996), the court granted Stauffer’s motion for summary judgment on the plaintiffs claims under the ADA and the FMLA and denied the motion on the PDA claim. (Dk. 64). The jury trial on the remaining PDA claim commenced June 24, 1996. After approximately three days of evidence and six hours of deliberations, the jury returned its verdict finding that the plaintiffs pregnancy was a motivating factor in the defendant’s decision to terminate her but that the defendant would have still terminated her in the absence of the discriminatory motive. (Dks. 88, 91). The court entered judgment consistent with the verdict on July 1,1996. (Dk. 92).

The defendant Stauffer filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law (Dk. 94) and a motion to determine liability for statutory attorneys’ fees pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d)(2)(C) (Dk. 97). In Gudenkauf v. Stauf *1239 fer Communications, Inc., 936 F.Supp. 805 (D.Kan.1996), the court denied the defendant’s motion for judgment as a matter of law and granted the defendant’s latter motion to the extent of finding that the plaintiff was entitled to recover attorneys’ fees in an amount to be determined later. (Dk. 103). The court also took the plaintiffs motion for costs and fees under advisement pending the parties’ compliance with D.Kan.Rule 54.2 and their full briefing of all matters relevant to a fee award. 936 F.Supp. at 809. The parties have completed this process, and the issues are now ripe for ruling.

DISCUSSION

Prior to the 1991 Civil Rights Act, the Supreme Court’s decision in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, 109 S.Ct. 1775, 104 L.Ed.2d 268 (1989), would have barred the recovery of attorneys’ fees here. After the Act, a plaintiff is now eligible for attorneys’ fees under the following circumstances:

On a claim in which an individual proves a violation under section 2000e-2(m) of this title and a respondent demonstrates that the respondent would have taken the same action in the absence of the impermissible motivating factor, the court—
(i) may grant declaratory relief, injunctive relief (except as provided in clause
(ü)), and attorney’s fees and costs demonstrated to be directly attributable only to the pursuit of a claim under section 2000e-2(m) of this title; and
(ii) shall not award damages or issue an order requiring any admission, reinstatement, hiring, promotion, or payment, described in subparagraph (A).

42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g)(2)(B). There are two relevant differences between this statute and the attorney’s fees provisions in other civil rights statutes. First, § 2000e-5(g)(2)(B) does not use or even refer to the term, “prevailing party,” found in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k) or 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b). Second, instead saying that a court “may allow ... a reasonable attorney’s fee”, § 2000&-5(k) and U.S.C. § 1988(b), the statute controlling here, § 2000e-5(g)(2)(B), says a court “may grant ... attorney’s fees ... demonstrated to be directly attributable only to the pursuit of a claim under section 2000e-2(m).” The court discussed the first difference in its prior order and will not revisit this discussion now. As for the second difference, the court cannot help but think that the absence of the adjective, “reasonable,” in § 2000e-5(g)(2)(B) was an oversight and that the limiting language of “directly attributable only” will be significant in many discrimination cases. 1

*1240 “ ‘[A] reasonable attorney’s fee’ is one that is ‘adequate to attract competent counsel, but ... [that does] not produce windfalls to attorneys.’” Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 897, 104 S.Ct. 1541, 1548, 79 L.Ed.2d 891 (1984) (quoting S.Rep. No. 94-1011, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 6, reprinted in 1976 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 5908, 5913). “[A]ttorney fee ‘awards made under the authority of federal fee-shifting statutes come under close scrutiny.’ ” Mann v. Reynolds, 46 F.3d 1055, 1062 (10th Cir.1995) (quoting Joseph A. v. New Mexico Dept. of Human Servs., 28 F.3d 1056, 1060 (10th Cir.1994)). This conclusion stems from the following observation:

[T]hese statutes “were not designed as a form of economic relief to improve the financial lot of attorneys, nor were they intended to replicate exactly the fee an attorney could earn through a private fee arrangement with his client. Instead, the aim of such statutes was to enable private parties to obtain legal help in seeking redress for injuries resulting from the actual or threatened violation of specific federal laws.”

Mann,

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953 F. Supp. 1237, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1415, 77 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1735, 1997 WL 50519, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gudenkauf-v-stauffer-communications-inc-ksd-1997.