Johnson v. Daley

• Decision Date: 06 October 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98-C-0518-C.,98-C-0518-C.
• Citation: 117 F.Supp.2d 889
• Parties: Cedric JOHNSON, Plaintiff, v. George M. DALEY, M.D., Defendant, and United States of America, Intervenor.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Wisconsin

117 F.Supp.2d 889

Cedric JOHNSON, Plaintiff, v. George M. DALEY, M.D., Defendant and United States of America, Intervenor.

No. 98-C-0518-C.

United States District Court, W.D. Wisconsin.

October 6, 2000.

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David J. Harth, Foley & Lardner, Madison, WI, for Cedric Johnson.

Robert M. Hunter, Assist. Atty. General, Madison, WI, for George M. Daley, M.D.

Leslie Herje, Assist. U.S. Atty., Madison, WI, John Schumann, Trial Atty., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civil Div., Washington, DC, for U.S.

OPINION AND ORDER

CRABB, District Judge.

Plaintiff Cedric Johnson has challenged the constitutionality of the Prison Litigation Reform Act's limit on the amount of fees paid to prisoners' counsel but not to non-prisoners' counsel in successful civil rights cases. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d)(2)(3). Plaintiff is an inmate at Fox Lake Correctional Institution in Fox Lake, Wisconsin. He brought suit against defendant George M. Daley pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, contending that defendant Daley had denied him adequate medical care for his liver disease in violation of the Eighth Amendment by not allowing him to be evaluated for a liver transplant and by failing to authorize that his name be added to the transplant list. On January 6, 2000, a jury found defendant liable under the Eighth Amendment for the delay in plaintiff's receipt of a liver transplant and awarded plaintiff $10,000 in compensatory damages and $30,000 in punitive damages.

On February 7, 2000, plaintiff moved for an award of attorney fees, costs and out-of-pocket expenses pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b) and Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d). He requested $101,776.01, including $92,997.20 in attorney fees and $8,778.81 in costs arguing that he is entitled to such an award under § 1988(b) because he is a "prevailing party" under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Acknowledging that this amount exceeds the permissible amount recoverable for attorney fees under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d), plaintiff contends that § 1997e(d)'s limit on attorney fees violates the equal protection provision of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment because it treats prisoners and non-prisoners differently without furthering any legitimate government interest. He challenges the constitutionality of the limit on attorney fee awards to 150% of the judgment, see § 1997e(d)(2), and the limit on a lawyer's hourly rate to 150% of the rate allowed for court appointed counsel in criminal cases under the Criminal Justice Act, see § 1997(e)(d)(3). In the event his challenge to § 1997e(d) is denied, plaintiff requests an award of $45,230.31, including $36,451.50 in attorney fees and $8,778.81 in costs, an amount within the limits of both the hourly rate and the total fee award imposed by § 1997e(d).

Because plaintiff is challenging the constitutionality of a United States statute, I notified the United States of that fact, as I must do pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2403. On June 12, 2000, I granted the motion of the United States to intervene, as required under § 2403(a). Defendant and the United States object to plaintiff's request for an award in excess of that allowed under § 1997(e). They contend that the attorney fee provision of the PLRA, see § 1997e(d), is constitutional because it is related rationally to the legitimate governmental ends of deterring frivolous prisoner lawsuits, reducing suits predicated on trivial harms and protecting the public fisc, reducing the likelihood of windfall awards and standardizing the fee rates between civil and criminal lawyers assisting indigent prisoners. (For convenience, I will refer to defendant and the United States together as "defendant" because of the significant overlap of their positions.)

Presently before the court is plaintiff's motion for attorney fees and costs. Jurisdiction is present. See 28 U.S.C. § 1331. I conclude that the Prison Litigation Reform Act's limit on attorney fees violates the Fifth Amendment's equal protection guarantees because the government's stated legitimate goals are not rationally related to § 1997e(d)'s differential treatment of successful prisoner civil rights plaintiffs and successful non-prisoner civil rights plaintiffs. I recognize that three courts of appeals have upheld the § 1997(e) limits on attorney fee awards, see Hadix v. Johnson, 230 F.3d 840 (6th Cir.2000); Boivin v. Black, 225 F.3d 36 (1st Cir.2000); Madrid v. Gomez, 190 F.3d 990 (9th Cir.1999); see also Collins v. Montgomery County Board of Prison Inspectors, 176 F.3d 679, 686 (3d Cir.1999),¹ cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1115, 120 S.Ct. 932, 145 L.Ed.2d 811 (2000) (en banc panel divided equally on constitutionality of provision limiting fees to 150% of judgment), and that federal statutes carry a presumption of constitutionality not easily overcome. Nevertheless, I cannot find in this legislative provision "a rational relationship to an independent and legitimate legislative end," Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, 633, 116 S.Ct. 1620, 134 L.Ed.2d 855 (1996). Although the government's stated interests are legitimate, the link between the classification at issue and the proffered interests is absent. Because § 1997e(d) fails to further any of the government's interests, the only explanation for Congress's differential treatment of civil rights plaintiffs subject to the fee cap and those not subject to the cap is invidious discrimination.

OPINION

A. Prison Litigation Reform Act

42 U.S.C. § 1988(b) provides that "[i]n any action or proceeding to enforce a provision of section ... 1983 ... the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs" of bringing an action to enforce 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In determining the reasonableness of the fee under § 1988, the most critical factor is the degree of success obtained. See Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U.S. 103, 114, 113 S.Ct. 566, 121 L.Ed.2d 494 (1992). The Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d), limits a prisoner's ability to recover attorney fees in civil rights cases under § 1988. Section 1997e(d)(1)(A) provides that attorney fees may be awarded under § 1988 in a civil rights action brought by a prisoner only to the extent that the "fee was directly and reasonably incurred in proving an actual violation of the plaintiff's rights protected by a [civil rights] statute." Section 1997e(d)(2) requires that "a portion of the judgment (not to exceed 25 percent) shall be applied to satisfy the amount of attorney's fees awarded against the defendant." Finally, § 1997e(d)(2) limits the award of attorney fees to 150% of the amount of the judgment and § 1997e(d)(3) limits the hourly rate of a prisoner's lawyer to 150% of the hourly rate allowed for court-appointed counsel in criminal cases under the Criminal Justice Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3006A.

B. Level of Review

Although the Fifth Amendment does not contain an equal protection clause, the Supreme Court has held that the Fifth Amendment's due process clause prevents the federal government from "engaging in discrimination that is `so unjustifiable as to be violative of due process.'" Schlesinger v. Ballard, 419 U.S. 498, 500 n. 3, 95 S.Ct. 572, 42 L.Ed.2d 610 (1975) (quoting Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497, 499, 74 S.Ct. 693, 98 L.Ed. 884 (1954)); see also Turner v. Glickman, 207 F.3d 419 (7th Cir.2000) (challenge under equal protection component of Fifth Amendment's due process clause).

The parties agree that the applicable level of review of § 1997e(d) is the rational basis standard because the challenged statutory provision does not implicate any fundamental rights, including access to the courts, see Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 821, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977) (establishing right of access to the courts); or involve any suspect classifications, see Zehner v. Trigg, 133 F.3d 459, 463 (7th Cir.1997) (stating that argument that prisoners are suspect class is "completely unsupported"). Furthermore, every court to address the constitutionality of § 1997e(d) has applied the rational basis standard of review.

A statute survives rational basis scrutiny "if there is a rational relationship between the disparity of treatment and some legitimate governmental purpose." Heller v. Doe, 509 U.S. 312, 320, 113 S.Ct. 2637, 125 L.Ed.2d 257 (1993). Under rational basis review, classifications "must be upheld against equal protection challenge if there is any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could provide a rational basis for the classification." FCC v. Beach Communications, Inc., 508 U.S. 307, 313, 113 S.Ct. 2096, 124 L.Ed.2d 211 (1993). "A statute is presumed constitutional, and `[t]he burden is on the one attacking the legislative arrangement to negative every conceivable basis which might support it.'" Heller, 509 U.S. at 320, 113 S.Ct. 2637 (quoting Lehnhausen v. Lake Shore Auto Parts Co., 410 U.S. 356, 364, 93 S.Ct. 1001, 35 L.Ed.2d 351 (1973)). "[U]nder rational basis review ... the classification need not be the most narrowly tailored means available to achieve the desired end." Zehner, 133 F.3d at 463.

Despite the presumptions that attend rational basis review, the process is not simply a ministerial exercise. The relationship between the classification and the asserted goal cannot be "so attenuated as to render the distinction arbitrary or irrational." City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., 473 U.S. 432, 446, 105 S.Ct. 3249, 87 L.Ed.2d 313 (1985). "[E]ven in the ordinary equal protection case calling for the most deferential of standards, we insist on knowing the relation between the classification adopted and the object to be attained. The search for the link between classification and objective gives substance to [equal protection guarantees]; it provides guidance and discipline for the legislature, ... and it marks the limits of our own authority." Romer, 517 U.S. at 632, 116 S.Ct. 1620 (striking down under...