Coates v. Bechtel, 86-1197

Decision Date02 February 1987
Docket NumberNo. 86-1197,86-1197
Citation811 F.2d 1045
PartiesRuth COATES and Bennie Coates, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Tom BECHTEL, Defendant-Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Diane L. Houk, Jacobson Sodos & Kringa, S.C., Milwaukee, Wis., for plaintiffs-appellants.

John Staks, Staks & Diel, Milwaukee, Wis., for defendant-appellee.

Before BAUER, Chief Judge, CUMMINGS and POSNER, Circuit Judges.

CUMMINGS, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs appeal the district court's award of $4,000 in attorney's fees to the defendant pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988. Because the district court abused its discretion in making the award, we reverse.

I.

The litigation underlying the fee award arose out of the alleged discriminatory treatment which the plaintiffs received in their attempt to purchase the defendant's mobile trailer home. Because the merits of this litigation are critical to our determination that the fee award was unwarranted, the factual background must be reviewed at some length.

On April 21, 1985, the plaintiffs, husband and wife, responded to a newspaper advertisement regarding a mobile trailer home for sale at the "Little K Campsite" located in Eastman, Wisconsin. The campsite is owned and operated by William and Joan Guman. The Gumans lease campground lots and sites on a yearly basis to individuals who ordinarily place trailer homes on the lots. The defendant owns a trailer which is situated on a leased lot in the "Little K Campsite."

Upon their arrival at the campsite, the plaintiffs were met by the Gumans who informed them that the trailer mentioned in the advertisement had already been sold but that there were other trailers in the campground that might be available for purchase. The defendant had previously mentioned to the Gumans that he was considering selling his trailer, but had never advertised that it was for sale and had made no formal arrangement with the Gumans to act as his agents in selling the trailer. Nevertheless, the Gumans had a key to the defendant's trailer and were apparently authorized to show it to potential buyers. Upon viewing the trailer, the plaintiffs indicated that they were interested in purchasing it, and Mr. Guman offered to telephone the defendant at his principal residence in Milwaukee. The defendant agreed to sell the trailer to the plaintiffs for $950 in cash. Because the plaintiffs wanted to occupy the trailer as soon as possible, the defendant instructed the plaintiffs to deliver the money to his father, Fritz Bechtel, who owned and operated a bar near the campsite and who would give them a receipt. After leaving the money with Fritz and making arrangements with him concerning keys and the disposition of the defendant's personal belongings which remained in the trailer, the plaintiffs returned to the campsite and began to fix and clean their newly purchased trailer.

By the time evening came, the plaintiffs had left the campsite after their $950 had been returned to them by the defendant's brother, Daniel Bechtel. What allegedly occurred during those intervening hours formed the basis for the plaintiffs' lawsuit. The defendant, his father, and his brother maintain that Mrs. Guman telephoned Fritz and told him that the plaintiffs had changed their minds and wanted their money back. Daniel delivered the money to the plaintiffs at the campsite and they subsequently left.

The plaintiffs' version of what transpired is, not surprisingly, quite different. They contend that a commotion arose at the campsite as a number of the other "Little K" residents complained about the fact that the defendant's trailer had been purchased by the plaintiffs because they were black. A heated argument ensued when criticism was directed at the Gumans for arranging the sale. Alarmed by this outburst, Mrs. Guman telephoned Fritz to find out why everyone was so angry with her husband. Fritz allegedly told her that the Gumans should have warned the defendant that the plaintiffs were black because he would never have agreed to sell the trailer to them if he had known. (Pl.App., Deposition of Joan Guman at 14). According to Mrs. Guman, Fritz referred to the plaintiffs as "niggers" throughout the conversation.

After this conversation, Mrs. Guman went over to the plaintiffs' trailer and explained to them what the commotion outside was all about. She relayed that Fritz Bechtel was unhappy about the plaintiffs' purchase of his son's trailer because of their race. She also told the plaintiffs that her husband was being harassed by the other campsite residents, who were threatening trouble if the plaintiffs did not leave. Mr. Coates suffered from a severe heart condition, and after listening to Mrs. Guman's story, he began to hyperventilate and experienced difficulty breathing. Fearing for her husband's health, Mrs. Coates decided that she and her husband could not remain at the "Little K" campsite as long as the other residents were so hostile. Mrs. Coates began to pack her car and planned to drive to Fritz's bar in hopes of getting her money back.

After leaving the plaintiffs, Mrs. Guman again called Fritz and told him that she thought that he could get the defendant's trailer back if he returned the plaintiffs' money to them at the campground. Fritz responded that he could not come, but that he would send his other son, Daniel. The plaintiffs maintain that Mrs. Guman acted on her own initiative in contacting Fritz and not at their request.

Just as the plaintiffs had finished packing their car and were preparing to leave, Daniel appeared beside the car and told them that Fritz had sent him to return the money they had paid for the trailer because he didn't want any "niggers" in the trailer. (Pl.App., Deposition of Ruth Coates at 68-69). Mrs. Coates took the money and gave Daniel a receipt stating that the Bechtels had changed their mind about the sale of the trailer because of "my race and color." As the plaintiffs attempted to leave the trailer camp, a group of camp residents gathered around their car and began to yell racial slurs and epithets. According to the plaintiffs, they were then chased all the way to LaCrosse, Wisconsin by three people in a red truck.

The plaintiffs proceeded to file this lawsuit, alleging numerous violations under the civil rights and fair housing laws, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1981, 1982, 3604, and the Wisconsin Open Housing Law, Wisc.Stat. Sec. 101.22. Named as defendants were Tom, Fritz, and Daniel Bechtel; Galen Phillips and Glenn Ramsette, both residents of the "Little K Campsite"; and unnamed John and Jane Doe defendants. In September 1985, Tom Bechtel moved for summary judgment on the grounds that (1) he could not be personally responsible for any of the alleged violations since he had had no contact with the plaintiffs on April 21st, other than the phone conversation in which he agreed to sell his trailer, and (2) he could not be vicariously liable for the alleged discriminatory acts of his agents, Fritz and Daniel Bechtel, because those acts exceeded the scope of their agency, which was limited to receiving the plaintiffs' purchase money. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Tom Bechtel on October 30, 1985. 1 At the same time, however, the district court denied motions for summary judgment which had been contemporaneously filed by the other defendants, finding that there were "material factual issues in dispute about whether the defendants coerced, intimidated, or interfered with the plaintiffs' rights" under the fair housing and civil rights laws. 2

After obtaining summary judgment, defendant Tom Bechtel filed a motion seeking attorney's fees from the plaintiffs as a prevailing party in a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988. The district court concluded that the plaintiffs' action against Tom Bechtel was unreasonable and without foundation and awarded him $4,059.50 in attorney's fees under Sec. 1988. The plaintiffs appeal this award.

II.

42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988 empowers the district court, in its discretion, to award the "prevailing party" in a civil rights action a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs. As we have on numerous occasions observed, however, prevailing defendants have never been entitled to the same treatment under the statute as prevailing plaintiffs. See, e.g., Vandenplas v. City of Muskego, 797 F.2d 425, 428-429 (7th Cir.1986); Hershinow v. Bonamarte, 772 F.2d 394, 395 (7th Cir.1985). A plaintiff may be deemed a prevailing party, and thus awarded attorney's fees, if he succeeds on "any significant issue in litigation which achieves some of the benefit [he] sought in bringing suit." Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 1939, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). In sharp contrast, a prevailing defendant may not recover attorney's fees from the plaintiff unless the district court finds that the plaintiff's action was "frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless, or that the plaintiff continued to litigate after it clearly became so." Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. 5, 15, 101 S.Ct. 173, 178-179, 66 L.Ed.2d 163 (1980) (quoting Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U.S. 412, 422, 98 S.Ct. 694, 701, 54 L.Ed.2d 648 (1978). 3 An award of attorney's fees to a prevailing defendant is not dependent upon a showing that the plaintiff commenced the action in bad faith, Hughes, 449 U.S. at 14, 101 S.Ct. at 178, although it will be more readily apparent that an action is frivolous if the plaintiff had no intention or hope of winning but rather brought suit solely to harass or oppress the defendant. Tarkowski v. County of Lake, 775 F.2d 173, 176 (7th Cir.1985).

The reason behind this distinction between prevailing plaintiffs and prevailing defendants is largely self-evident. One of the principal concerns motivating Congress in enacting Sec. 1988 was the generally acknowledged failure of the private market for legal services "to provide many victims of civil rights violations with...

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