Collins v. Montgomery County Bd. of Prison Inspectors

Decision Date17 November 1998
Docket NumberNo. 98-1206,98-1206
Citation176 F.3d 679
PartiesMichael T. COLLINS, Appellant, v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF PRISON INSPECTORS; Joseph Walsh, individually; James A. Frey, individually; Edwin Negron, individually; Alfred Ricci, individually; Mark Griffith, individually; Frank Griffith, individually; David Dombroski, individually, Julio M. Algarin, in his official capacity and individually; Delores Martin, individually; Lawrence Roth, in his official capacity; United States of America.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Before: BECKER, Chief Judge, GREENBERG, Circuit Judge, and McLAUGHLIN, 1 District Judge.

Reargued en banc April 23, 1999.

Before: BECKER, Chief Judge, and SLOVITER, STAPLETON, MANSMANN, GREENBERG, SCIRICA, NYGAARD, ALITO, ROTH, LEWIS, McKEE, and RENDELL, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

GREENBERG, Circuit Judge:

I. BACKGROUND

This matter is before this court on an appeal from an order entered February 17, 1998, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In 1995, appellant Michael Collins brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that the defendants violated his constitutional rights while he was incarcerated in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The court granted Collins leave to proceed in forma pauperis on July 26, 1995, and on November 17, 1995, Collins moved for appointment of counsel. Upon request of the district court, the firm of Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz agreed to represent Collins in pursuing several of his claims. The district court made this appointment on January 31, 1996.

On April 26, 1996, approximately three months after Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz agreed to represent Collins and less than three months after the district court made the appointment, the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PLRA"), Pub.L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321 (1996), became effective. The PLRA significantly limits the attorney's fees that a court may award a prisoner recovering a monetary judgment in a civil rights action by placing a cap both on an attorney's maximum hourly rate and on the total amount of attorney's fees recoverable from a defendant. Moreover, the PLRA requires that a portion of a monetary judgment recovered by a plaintiff be applied to satisfy attorney's fees. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d).

Collins' action was tried in December 1996, after the effective date of the PLRA, before a jury that returned a verdict against two of the ten defendants and awarded Collins compensatory damages of $15,000 and punitive damages of $5,000 on a claim arising out of an attack on him by a guard dog. As a partially successful civil rights litigant under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Collins moved for an award of attorney's fees of $80,122.75 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988. 2 Collins recognized the possible effect of the PLRA on his application but raised an equal protection challenge to the Act. Subsequently, on July 11, 1997, the court permitted the United States to intervene under 28 U.S.C. § 2403 to defend the constitutionality of the PLRA.

The court in an opinion dated January 9, 1998, held that Collins' application for attorney's fees for services performed after the PLRA became effective on April 26, 1996, was subject to the PLRA's attorney's fees limitations. The court, however, in a determination not challenged on this appeal, held that Collins was entitled to an award of attorney's fees for pre-PLRA legal services without regard for the Act's limitations. It accordingly directed Collins to submit a revised fee petition conforming with the PLRA for the time Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz spent both in and out of court after April 26, 1996. Moreover, the court upheld the constitutionality of the attorney's fees provisions of the PLRA.

On January 26, 1998, Collins filed a revised fee petition that sought an award of $7,789.75 without regard for the PLRA limitations for services before April 26, 1996, but which reduced his request for services performed thereafter from $72,333 to $30,000 in compliance with the PLRA. Collins calculated this post-PLRA figure as $30,025.30 in gross fees, based on the applicable hourly rate, reduced by $25.50 in accordance with the PLRA limitations. The defendants raised no issue with respect to mathematical calculations in this revised petition with respect to services either before or after the enactment of the PLRA, and the district court granted this revised fee petition by order entered on February 17, 1998. The court at that time divided the responsibility for the attorney's fees subject to the PLRA on the basis of 97.5% or $29,250 to the defendants and 2.5% or $750 to Collins. Collins filed a timely notice of appeal from this fee award on March 13, 1998. 3 The defendants have not cross-appealed and consequently they acquiesce in the district court's allowance of fees for pre-PLRA services without regard for the Act's limitations. The district court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § § 1331, 1343(a), and we have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Following argument before the original panel, the full court voted that the case be considered en banc, and the parties thereafter reargued the case before the en banc court. See Third Circuit Internal Operating Procedure 9.4.

II. DISCUSSION

On this appeal, we are asked to answer two questions: (1) whether a court should apply the PLRA's attorney's fee limitation provisions to prisoner civil rights cases pending at the time of its enactment and, if so, (2) whether the PLRA's attorney's fee provisions violate the equal protection of the law guarantee inherent in the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. 4 Because these issues present questions of law, our review is plenary.

A. Retroactivity Questions

The PLRA's attorney's fee limitation provisions are found at 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d), which provides in relevant part:

(d) Attorney's Fees

(1) In any action brought by a prisoner who is confined to any jail, prison, or other correctional facility, in which attorney's fees are authorized under [42 U.S.C. § 1988], such fees shall not be awarded, except to the extent that--

(A) the fee was directly and reasonably incurred in proving an actual violation of the plaintiff's rights protected by a statute pursuant to which a fee may be awarded under [42 U.S.C. § 1988]; and

(B)(i) the amount of the fee is proportionately related to the court ordered relief for the violation; or

(ii) the fee was directly and reasonably incurred in enforcing the relief ordered for the violation.

(2) Whenever a monetary judgment is awarded in an action described in paragraph (1), 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. If the award of attorney's fees is not greater than 150 percent of the judgment, the excess shall be paid by the defendant.

(3) No award of attorney's fees in an action described in paragraph (1) shall be based on an hourly rate greater than 150 percent of the hourly rate established under section 3006A of Title 18[, the Criminal Justice Act,] for payment of court-appointed counsel....

These PLRA attorney's fee limitation provisions raise three retroactivity questions here. With respect to consideration of compensation based on the time a plaintiff's attorney has expended on the case, the PLRA limits attorney's fees to an hourly rate not greater than 150% of the hourly rate for court-appointed counsel established under the Criminal Justice Act in the applicable district. In this case, the hourly rates allowed on the basis of 150% of the Criminal Justice Act rates were $97.50 for court time and $67.50 for time out of court. As we have indicated, however, the court applied the limitations only to services after the effective date of the PLRA, and the defendants do not contend that the limitations should have been applied to earlier services. Collins contends, however, that the hourly rate provisions should not be applied at all in this action as he filed it before the enactment of the PLRA.

Another limitation is predicated on the amount of the recovery and provides that the fees awarded cannot exceed 150% of the judgment. In this case, as the judgment was for $20,000, the district court capped the fee at $30,000. In this regard, we point out that the defendants do not contend that the fees awarded Collins' attorneys for pre-PLRA services should count against the $30,000 cap and thus the district court applied the cap only against the fees for post-PLRA services. Inasmuch as the fees for post-PLRA services calculated on the basis of the hourly rate limitation were $30,025.30, the capping provision reduced the attorney's fees by the nominal amount of $25.30 to $30,000. Collins nevertheless contends that the cap should not be applied in this case in any degree as he filed it before the enactment of the PLRA.

The third provision is a fee limitation only in the sense that it places responsibility for the fees on the plaintiff by requiring that a portion of the judgment (not to exceed 25%) be applied to satisfy the award of attorney's fees. Here the district court allotted 2.5% of the responsibility for the fee to Collins. 5 ...

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25 cases
  • Walker v. Bain
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan
    • August 3, 1999
    ...the Third Circuit, sitting en banc, affirmed this decision by an equally divided court. See Collins v. Montgomery County Bd. of Prison Inspectors, 176 F.3d 679, 686 (3d Cir.1999) (en banc). Under the Third Circuit's law, this decision is entitled to no weight. See Tunis Bros. Co., Inc. v. F......
  • Morrison v. Davis
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio
    • March 28, 2000
    ...Dist. LEXIS 83, at *23-*25 (E.D.Pa. Jan. 9, 1998), aff'd en banc by an equally divided court sub nom. Collins v. Montgomery County Board of Prison Inspectors, 176 F.3d 679 (3d Cir.1999), reasoned that the means chosen by Congress in the PLRA to meet the ends of decreasing prisoners' frivolo......
  • Johnson v. Daley
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
    • August 19, 2003
    ...Jan. 9, 1998) 1998 U.S. Dist. Lexis 83, affirmed by an equally divided court under the name Collins v. Montgomery County Board of Prison Inspectors, 176 F.3d 679, 686 (3d Cir.1999) (en banc). Like these other circuits, we hold that § 1997e(d) is rationally related to valid objectives and he......
  • McLindon v. Russell, 1:95CV00676.
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    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio
    • December 16, 1999
    ...is not to be borne by the defendant to the extent it exceeds 150 percent of the judgment."); Collins v. Montgomery County Board of Prison Inspectors, 176 F.3d 679, 683 (3d Cir.1999)(en banc)(same, but also recognizing that there might be some cases where a prisoner obtained extensive and im......
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1 books & journal articles
  • Report on the Prison Litigation Reform Act: What Have the Courts Decided so Far?
    • United States
    • Prison Journal, The No. 84-3, September 2004
    • September 1, 2004
    ...Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. §1997e (1980).Collins v. Montgomery County Board of Prison Inspectors, 176 F.3d 679 (3rd Cir. 1999)(enbanc).Collins, W. C., & Grant, D. C. (1998). The PrisonLitigation Reform Act. Corrections Today,60(5), 60-62.Cooper v. Pate, 378 U.S. 546;......

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