West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc. v. Casey

898 F.2d 357, 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 3409, 1990 WL 22531
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMarch 12, 1990
DocketNo. 89-5165
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 898 F.2d 357 (West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc. v. Casey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc. v. Casey, 898 F.2d 357, 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 3409, 1990 WL 22531 (3d Cir. 1990).

Opinion

SUR MOTION FOR ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COSTS

ROSENN, Circuit Judge.

On July 6, 1986, West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc. (WVUH or the Hospital) commenced an action against the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and various other officials (the State) pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In the action WVUH sought injunctive and declaratory relief invalidating the out-of-state aspects of Pennsylvania’s hospital reimbursement pro[360]*360gram, as well as reasonable attorneys’ fees, including expert witness fees, and costs. WVUH claimed that Pennsylvania's medicaid prospective payment system as it applied to the plaintiff violated federal law. The litigation dealt with certain issues which had not been previously litigated and involved complex issues of state and federal medicaid reimbursement law and statutory and constitutional challenges to Pennsylvania’s administrative system. On November 30, 1988, the district court entered an order in favor of the Hospital on all significant issues and awarded WVUH substantially the prospective relief requested, as well as attorneys’ fees (including expert witness fees) and costs.

Subsequent to that litigation, WVUH applied to the district court for attorneys’ fees and following negotiations the parties agreed on the sum of $350,000, which the court approved. The defendants filed a timely appeal with this court vigorously challenging the major aspects of the district court’s decision. After oral argument and review of the briefs and record, we rendered our decision on September 5, 1989, affirming the district court’s judgment that Pennsylvania’s medicaid prospective system as applied to plaintiff violated federal law, but reversing the district court’s declaration that Pennsylvania’s administrative appeals system as it applied to WVUH violated federal law and the award of retroactive relief. We also vacated the award for expert witness fees insofar as it allowed a sum in excess of thirty dollars per day. We denied WVUH’s petition for rehearing.

Based on our decision, we now have before us the Hospital’s application as amended for attorneys’ fees in the sum of $132,-737.47 and $7,394.37 in disbursements in connection with the appeal to this court. The State opposes the application with numerous objections which, although they do not raise the request for fees and costs to the same level of complexity as the underlying litigation, nonetheless present the trappings of major litigation. We grant the motion in part.

I.

WVUH claims that it is entitled to the fees requested before this court because it prevailed on the appeal within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 1988. It asserts that the essential question in its lawsuit and on appeal was whether Pennsylvania’s medicaid prospective payment system, as it applied to WVUH, complied with federal law. It prevailed in the resolution of this issue in both the district court and on appeal in this court. WVUH acknowledges that we reversed the district court’s determination declaring invalid the legality and adequacy of Pennsylvania’s administrative appeals system as well as the district court’s award of relief retroactive to the filing of the lawsuit. West Virginia University Hosp., Inc. v. Casey, 885 F.2d 11 (3d Cir.1989). We also vacated the district court’s decision allowing expert witness fees of $104,103.00 under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. The Hospital, however, contends that the administrative appeals issue “is subordinate to the central issue” concerning the legality and adequacy of the prospective payment system, and the expert witness fee issue is tangential to the substantive claim concerning the legality and adequacy of Pennsylvania’s medicaid prospective system, and arose solely from the question of the total amount of attorneys’ fees to be awarded. The Hospital maintains that it has protected its essential legal rights, “will obtain major and permanent changes in Pennsylvania’s reimbursement practices,” and has thus obtained the “primary relief” it sought. WVUH therefore concludes that it is the prevailing party for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1988 and is entitled to all of the attorneys’ fees and disbursements requested on the appeal to this court and in connection with earlier efforts to enforce compliance with the judgment of the district court.

The State, responding to the Hospital’s application, has raised numerous objections. They may be summarized as follows:

(1) WVUH is not entitled to attorneys’ fees in the sum requested because on appeal it lost on “three significant issues”: [361]*361the administrative appeals issue, the re-troactivity issue, and the expert witness fees issue. Therefore, the State contends the request for fees should be reduced by seventy-five percent.

(2) This court may not award fees on a direct motion to this court for WVUH’s efforts to enforce compliance with the district court’s judgment because those services were not rendered in the court of appeals. Specifically, the State challenges fees for WVUH’s unsuccessful Rule 70 motion in the district court and for WVUH’s efforts to enforce compliance with the district court judgment.

(3) No award should be made for items that represent an unnecessary duplication of effort by multiple counsel.

(4) No award can be made for numerous items of alleged service when the individual entries in the plaintiffs’ supporting exhibits lack necessary specificity.

(5) Miscellaneous items of disbursement for telephone, duplicating, and other office expenses were either unnecessary or excessively expensive.

II.

The major issue before us pertains to the State’s request for a reduction of attorney’s fees under the principles enunciated in Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983), because the plaintiff, WVUH, did not prevail on all the issues raised on appeal. In Hensley, the Supreme Court held that courts must assess the claims advanced and the results achieved by the prevailing party when determining what is a “reasonable” attorney’s fee under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Under Hensley, attorneys are not to be compensated for time spent on claims which are unrelated to successful claims. Id. at 435, 103 S.Ct. at 1940. However, “where a lawsuit consists of related claims, a plaintiff should not have his attorney’s fees reduced simply ...” because some related claims are unsuccessful. Id. at 440, 103 S.Ct. at 1943. The court must consider whether the results obtained by the prevailing party justify an award of attorney’s fees for hours spent on related but unsuccessful claims. Hensley at 435, 103 S.Ct. at 1940. When the relief obtained is excellent, the prevailing party may recover fees for “all hours reasonably expended on the litigation.” Id. at 436, 103 S.Ct. at 1941. If the prevailing party does not obtain substantial but only partial relief, a full award of fees for all hours spent on related, unsuccessful claims would be excessive. Hensley at 440, 103 S.Ct. at 1943.

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West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc. v. Casey
898 F.2d 357 (Third Circuit, 1990)

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Bluebook (online)
898 F.2d 357, 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 3409, 1990 WL 22531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-virginia-university-hospitals-inc-v-casey-ca3-1990.