Segars v. Fulton County

654 F. Supp. 42, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16646
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 10, 1986
DocketCiv. A. No. C85-4426A
StatusPublished

This text of 654 F. Supp. 42 (Segars v. Fulton County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Segars v. Fulton County, 654 F. Supp. 42, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16646 (N.D. Ga. 1986).

Opinion

ORDER

ROBERT H. HALL, District Judge.

This matter is currently before the court on plaintiffs Segars and Byers’ motion for an award of attorney’s fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988.

FACTS

This case arose over Fulton County Personnel Regulations PR-1600-1, PR-1200-11(1) and PR-1200-11(3), which required Fulton County employees to take leave from employment without pay in order to seek elective office and, if successful, to resign from county employment in order to hold that office. The court in its order held that these regulations, as relates to plaintiff Segars, unconstitutionally infringed the political speech and associational freedoms protected by the First Amendment as applicable to the states through the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Initially, Fulton County disagreed with plaintiffs’ contention that the regulations were unconstitutionally restrictive and informed plaintiff Segars that noncompliance would lead to his termination. The plaintiffs brought this action seeking both temporary and permanent injunctive relief. The court, in its November 18, 1985 Order granted the temporary restraining order.

On December 11, 1985, plaintiffs moved for judgment on the pleadings following the expiration of the TRO. The court denied plaintiffs’ motion on January 9, 1986. The parties indicated a willingness for the case to receive speedy adjudication by filing a Joint Stipulation of Facts on April 15, 1986. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the court granted summary judgment for plaintiffs and denied summary judgment for defendant in its September 9, 1986 Order, 644 F.Supp. 682.

DISBURSEMENTS:

02/20/86 Travel expenses to and from Ball Ground for meeting with L. Horne, Jackie Mitchell and Karen Jordan $ 19.80

06/12/86 Copying Expenses — Outside the Office — petty cash reimbursement $ 10.00

06/20/86 Lexis Research $ 29.59

Long Distance Telephone Charges $ 8.70

Secretarial Overtime $ 50.00

Internal Messenger Service $ 60.00

Copying Expenses — Within Office $476.28

Word Processing Printing $195.40

TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS BILLING: $849.77

Time Summary By Attorney

LEGAL FEES:

Attorney Hours Worked Billing Rate Bill Amount

J. Bramlett 191.7 120.00 23,004.00

R. Littleton 3.5 35.00 122.50

J. Krone .8 35.00 28.00
G. Fryhofer 88.0 90.00 7,920.00
W. Reed 4.1 30.00 123.00

[44]*44Attorney Hours Worked Billing Rate Bill Amount

R. Gayman 2.6 50.00 130.00
R. Flower 7.6 30.00 228.00
S. Layton 7.0 40.00 280.00

TOTAL LEGAL FEES: $31,835.50

TOTAL CURRENT STATEMENT: $32,685.27

DISCUSSION

The Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Award Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. § 1988, provides that prevailing plaintiffs in § 1983 actions may seek “a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs.” Indeed, prevailing civil rights plaintiffs “should ordinarily recover attorney’s fees unless special circumstances would render such an award unjust.” Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc., 390 U.S. 400, 402, 88 S.Ct. 964, 966, 19 L.Ed.2d 1263 (1968), quoted in S.Rep. No. 1011, 94th Cong., 1st Sess. 4 (1976).

In determining what constitutes a reasonable fee under § 1988, the court receives guidance from several Supreme Court pronouncements on the subject. The Court has held in specifying the proper focus for this inquiry that “[t]he most useful starting point for determining the 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, 1939, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983); See also Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 104 S.Ct. 1541, 79 L.Ed.2d 891 (1984). This figure then becomes the “lodestar” amount, from which the fee may require upward or downward adjustment. Id. In determining the propriety of enhancing or reducing the lodestar, this court should properly consider the familiar factors identified in Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc., 488 F.2d 714 (5th Cir.1974).1 Moreover, “[wjhere a plaintiff has obtained excellent results, his attorney should recover a fully compensatory fee.” Hensley supra, 461 U.S. at 435, 103 S.Ct. at 1940; quoted in City of Riverside v. Rivera, — U.S. -, 106 S.Ct. 2686, 91 L.Ed.2d 466 (1986).

Thus, there being no question that plaintiffs are the “prevailing parties” in this action, the court will proceed with a two-step inquiry: (1) whether the fees requested and the hours expended are reasonable, and (2) whether the Johnson factors support any adjustment of the lodestar amount derived in step (l).2

Counsel for plaintiffs provided this court with a detailed account of each of its charges by date, attorney, hours spent, and subject matter of the time spent. (Bramlett Affidavit, Exhibit A). Additionally, attorney Bramlett’s affidavit indicates that through representation of attorneys and law firms in this area he is personally familiar with the hourly billing and collection rates and practices of lawyers in Atlanta, Georgia. Id. Furthermore, Bram[45]*45lett contends that the charges presented are reasonable under the circumstances Id.

Defendant’s opposition centers around the general contention that plaintiffs’ counsel has made “no showing that any of such (sic) billings were subject to any editing or consideration of reasonableness in a specific sense.” (Defendant’s Brief at 7). Defendant argues further that “while it may be reasonable under local billing and collection practices to bill clients for any and all charges for services and expenses related to a case, it does not necessarily follow that each individual charge was reasonable for compensation purposes in the federal courts.” Id. at 8. For its part, defendant does not specifically dispute any of plaintiffs’ charges, rather, defendants shows that the total time devoted on behalf of defendant in connection with this action is significantly less than plaintiffs’ counsel. (Defendant’s Brief, Exhibit A). This admission could be telling.

After thorough review of each of the entries made by plaintiffs’ counsel and in light of his uncontradicted testimony that such charges are reasonable for the Atlanta area, the court finds the fees requested and the hours expended are reasonable. In fact, the court commends the parties for expediting this court’s task by stipulating to the facts not in dispute.

In considering whether this fee should be enhanced, the court will consider the Johnson

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
654 F. Supp. 42, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16646, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/segars-v-fulton-county-gand-1986.