Lytle v. Carl

382 F.3d 978, 59 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 601
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 1, 2004
DocketNos. 02-16244, 03-15126, 03-15181
StatusPublished
Cited by241 cases

This text of 382 F.3d 978 (Lytle v. Carl) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lytle v. Carl, 382 F.3d 978, 59 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 601 (9th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

WILLIAM A. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Defendant-Appellant Clark County School District (“the District”) appeals a judgment entered on a jury verdict in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by plaintiff-appellee Trudi Lytle, a kindergarten teacher in the District. Lytle contended at trial that the District violated her constitutional rights by retaliating against her because of an earlier action she had brought, and won, against the District. The district court denied the District’s post-trial motion for a judgment as a matter of law. The district court first held that municipal liability could be imposed on the District under § 1983 based on the actions of Superintendent Dr. Brian Cram and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Edward Goldman, whom it concluded were “final policymakers.” Second, the district court concluded that there was sufficient evidence to support a jury conclusion that Goldman engaged in retaliation and ratified retaliatory acts by other District employees. We affirm the denial of the District’s motion for a judgment as a matter of law.

The District also appeals the district court’s award of attorneys’ fees. Lytle cross-appeals the district court’s award of [981]*981attorneys’ fees and refusal to award taxable costs. We affirm the district court’s decisions on fees and costs.

I. Background

Appellee Trudi Lytle is a teacher at Marion B. Earl Elementary School (“Marion Earl”) in the Clark County School District in Nevada. In 1992, Lytle sent a letter to her state senators in which she criticized a new program being implemented in the District. The District then sought to transfer her to another elementary school. When Lytle refused to agree to the transfer, the District fired her. Ly-tle filed suit under § 1983, claiming that the District had violated her First Amendment right to free speech by retaliating against her for criticizing the District’s program. A jury awarded Lytle $135,000 in damages, and she was reinstated at Marion Earl in the fall of 1994 by court order.

In October 1995, Lytle brought this suit under § 1983, alleging that the District and several administrators retaliated against her upon her return to Marion Earl, in violation of her First Amendment rights to free speech and access to the courts. In her complaint, she named as defendants the District and several administrators, including Superintendent Brian Cram, Assistant Superintendent Edward Goldman, Area Superintendents Eva Simmons and P. Kay Carl, and Marion Earl Principal Robert L. Wondrash. The defendants moved for summary judgment, which the district court granted with respect to the free speech claim, but denied with respect to the claim of access to the courts. The court further granted summary judgment to Cram and Carl as individuals based on qualified immunity, but denied summary judgment to the remaining individual defendants and the District. In an earlier appeal, we held that the remaining individual defendants were entitled to qualified immunity, but allowed proceedings against the District to continue. Lytle v. Wondrash, 182 F.3d 1083 (9th Cir.1999).

After remand, Lytle went to trial against the District. At the close of Ly-tle’s case-in-chief, the District moved for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a). The District contended that the Board of Trustees (“Board”) was the only authorized policymaker, and that since Lytle had not shown any retaliatory action taken by the Board, there was no basis for District liability. The district court disagreed, concluding that Superintendent Cram and Assistant Superintendent Goldman had final policymaking authority. It therefore denied the motion. The jury ultimately found for Lytle, awarding her $75,000 in damages. The District filed a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial under Rule 50(b). The district court denied this motion as well, reaffirming its earlier conclusion that Cram and Goldman were final policymakers and concluding that there was sufficient evidence to support a conclusion by the jury that the District had violated Lytle’s First Amendment right of access to the courts.

After entry of judgment, Lytle moved for attorneys’ fees of $399,865.55. The district court reduced the hourly rate of three of the attorneys for whom fees were sought, deducted hours for duplicative and insufficiently documented work, and reduced the overall figure based on its conclusion that Lytle had not achieved an “excellent result” in the litigation. After reductions, the district court awarded Ly-tle $239,268.00 in attorneys’ fees.

The District appeals the denial of its motion for a judgment as a matter of law and the attorneys’ fees award. Lytle [982]*982cross-appeals the fee award. For the reasons that follow, we agree with the district court in all respects.

II. Standards of Review

We review a district court’s denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law de novo. Sanghvi v. City of Claremont, 328 F.3d 532, 536 (9th Cir.2003). “[Wjhether a particular official has ‘final policymaking authority’ is a question of state law. ... [T]he identification of those officials whose decisions represent the official policy of the local government unit is itself a legal question to be resolved by the trial judge before the case is submitted to the jury.” Jett v. Dallas Indep. Sch. Dist., 491 U.S. 701, 737, 109 S.Ct. 2702, 105 L.Ed.2d 598 (1989) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see also Christie v. Iopa, 176 F.3d 1231, 1235 (9th Cir.1999). “Once those officials who have the power to make official policy on a particular issue have been identified, it is for the jury to determine whether their decisions have caused the deprivation of rights at issue.... ” Jett, 491 U.S. at 737, 109 S.Ct. 2702. When we review the decision of a jury, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of that party. We then determine if there was a legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for the nonmoving party. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a)(1); Howard v. Everex Sys., Inc., 228 F.3d 1057, 1060 (9th Cir.2000). We will not disturb a jury verdict if it is supported by substantial evidence. Gillette v. Delmore, 979 F.2d 1342, 1346 (9th Cir.1992).

We review a district court’s award of attorneys’ fees for abuse of discretion. Webb v. Sloan, 330 F.3d 1158, 1167 n. 6 (9th Cir.2003). A district court abuses its discretion if it applies an inaccurate statement of the law, or if it bases its decision on a clearly erroneous finding of fact. Barjon v.

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382 F.3d 978, 59 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lytle-v-carl-ca9-2004.