Bailey v. Mississippi

• Decision Date: 20 April 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-60412.,04-60412.
• Citation: 407 F.3d 684
• Parties: Teresa BAILEY, on Behalf of Herself and all Others Similarly Situated; and Gloria Harper, on Behalf of Herself and all Others Similarly Situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. State of MISSISSIPPI, et al., Defendants, Faye Peterson, in her Official Capacity, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

407 F.3d 684

Teresa BAILEY, on Behalf of Herself and all Others Similarly Situated; and Gloria Harper, on Behalf of Herself and all Others Similarly Situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. State of MISSISSIPPI, et al., Defendants, Faye Peterson, in her Official Capacity, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 04-60412.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

April 20, 2005.

Kathryn Neal Nester, Christopher & Nester, Ridgeland, MS, James William Craig (argued), Jane E. Tucker, Phelps Dunbar, Jackson, MS, for Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Billy Berryhill (argued), Rickey T. Moore, Jackson, MS, for Faye Peterson.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Before REAVLEY, DeMOSS and PRADO, Circuit Judges.

DeMOSS, Circuit Judge:

This appeal stems from the district court's grant of attorney's fees to Plaintiffs-Appellees Teresa Bailey and Gloria Harper ("Plaintiffs"), on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Defendant-Appellant Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson ("Peterson") argues the district court erred in finding that Plaintiffs qualified for § 1988 attorney's fees as prevailing parties. We agree with Peterson. For the following reasons, we REVERSE and VACATE the award of attorney's fees.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs were convicted of violating Mississippi's Bad Check law, MISS.CODE ANN. § 97-19-55, in Hinds County, Mississippi. Without counsel, both women were sentenced to multiyear prison sentences. These events arose due to the Hinds County District Attorney's office's policy of enforcing the Bad Check law by taking alleged bad check offenders directly to the justice court and having them sign a waiver of attorney form without explanation. The justice court judge did not conduct independent examinations concerning the accused's waiver of counsel. Those offenders who could not pay were incarcerated.

In August 2001 Plaintiffs filed the instant 42 U.S.C. § 1983 lawsuit, challenging both the constitutionality of the Bad Check law (equal protection violation) and the procedure by which Hinds County enforced the law (deprivation of right to counsel). Plaintiffs were serving their sentences when they filed their federal action. Approximately one day later, Plaintiffs filed for post-conviction relief in the County Court of Hinds County, Mississippi, alleging the same constitutional violations as in their § 1983 suit. In January 2002 the Mississippi state court ruled in favor of Plaintiffs, finding that the policies and procedures employed by Peterson's office were unconstitutional because Plaintiffs had been denied their right to counsel. The state court ordered that Plaintiffs be released. After this ruling, Peterson's office hired a consulting group to recommend changes and subsequently made several revisions to the policies used to enforce the Bad Check law to ensure accused offenders were notified of their right to counsel.¹ The federal lawsuit continued.

Peterson moved to dismiss and for summary judgment on the federal complaint in September 2002, arguing that the demand for injunctive relief was moot because the policies and procedures had already been thoroughly rewritten. The Mississippi Attorney General also moved to dismiss, arguing the statutory scheme was constitutional. Plaintiffs opposed such motions and obtained the court's permission to conduct additional discovery of Peterson.

The district court granted both motions to dismiss and dismissed the complaint with prejudice in August 2003, ruling that the Bad Check law was facially constitutional and choosing not to "resolve whether there continues to exist a live and justiciable claim for prospective equitable relief by plaintiffs."

In September 2003 Plaintiffs moved for attorney's fees pursuant to § 1988. Plaintiffs argued they were "prevailing parties" within the meaning of the statute because their lawsuits had forced Peterson to change her office's Bad Check law procedures. Peterson opposed the request for attorney's fees, arguing the Supreme Court had rejected the "catalyst theory" that allowed plaintiffs to recover attorney's fees, even though they had not obtained an actual judgment or consent decree. Plaintiffs responded with a timeline of events to show that the post-conviction relief combined with the "pending threat of injunctive relief from this Court set into motion the very changes that were at the heart of Plaintiffs' Complaint."

The district court ruled in favor of Plaintiffs in April 2004 and awarded them attorney's fees and expenses in the amount of $23,114.14. In its decision, the court recognized that the catalyst theory was no longer a viable basis for awards but cited the state court's ruling as proof that the policies of Peterson's office were unconstitutional. The order also stated the court "was poised to order relief to plaintiffs on the basis of the deficiencies identified by" the state court. Peterson timely appealed.

DISCUSSION

This Court reviews the district court's decision to award attorney's fees pursuant to § 1988 for abuse of discretion. Volk v. Gonzalez, 262 F.3d 528, 534 (5th Cir.2001). "The factual findings supporting an award of attorney's fees are reviewed for clear error; the conclusions of law underlying the award are reviewed de novo." Id.

Prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Buckhannon Board and Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, 532 U.S. 598, 121 S.Ct. 1835, 149 L.Ed.2d 855 (2001), this Court used to describe prevailing-party status as an underlying factual determination subject only to clear error review. Scham v. Dist. Courts Trying Criminal Cases, 148 F.3d 554, 557 (5th Cir.1998). We had also followed the catalyst theory plaintiffs were considered prevailing parties even if their cases settled or became moot, so long as the lawsuit itself was a substantial factor or significant catalyst that caused the defendants to voluntarily change their behavior to the result plaintiffs desired. See Foreman v. Dallas County, Tex., 193 F.3d 314, 318-21 (5th Cir.1999).

However, the Supreme Court in Buckhannon expressly found the catalyst theory no longer viable in the context of an award of attorney's fees to a prevailing party under the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, 42 U.S.C. § 3613(c)(2), and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12205. Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 605, 610, 121 S.Ct. 1835. The Court abrogated use of the catalyst theory for awards under fee-shifting statutes because it "allows an award where there is no judicially sanctioned change in the legal relationship of the parties." Id. at 605, 121 S.Ct. 1835. "We cannot agree that the term `prevailing party' authorizes federal courts to award attorney's fees to a plaintiff who, by simply filing a nonfrivolous but nonetheless potentially meritless lawsuit (it will never be determined), has reached the `sought-after destination' without obtaining any judicial relief." Id. at 606, 121 S.Ct. 1835 (citation omitted). The Court stated that "enforceable judgments on the merits and court-ordered consent decrees create the `material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties' necessary to permit an award of attorney's fees." Id. at 604, 121 S.Ct. 1835 (citation omitted). Judgments on the merits and consent decrees thus fall on the prevailing-party side of the line. See id. In contrast, the Court explained that an interlocutory ruling which reverses a dismissal for failure to state a claim, a reversal of a directed verdict for defendant, and a pronouncement of unconstitutionality unaccompanied by judicial relief are not legal victories for plaintiffs. Id. at 605-06, 121 S.Ct. 1835.

Post-Buckhannon, every Circuit to address the issue has determined that the characterization of prevailing-party status for awards under fee-shifting statutes such as § 1988 is a legal question subject to de novo review.² This Court agrees that, post-Buckhannon, we will review such question de novo.

Whether the district court abused its discretion in awarding Plaintiffs attorney's fees pursuant to § 1988.

Plaintiffs seek fees under § 1988 here. Section 1988 provides, in relevant part: "In any action or proceeding to enforce a provision of section[ ] ... 1983 ... of this title ... 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." 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b). In Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U.S. 103, 113 S.Ct. 566, 121 L.Ed.2d 494 (1992), the Supreme Court stated in the context of fees under § 1988:

Therefore, to qualify as a prevailing party, a civil rights plaintiff must obtain at least some relief on the merits of his claim. The plaintiff must obtain an enforceable judgment against the defendant from whom fees are sought ... or comparable relief through a consent decree or settlement .... Whatever relief the plaintiff secures must directly benefit him at the time of the judgment or settlement. Otherwise the judgment or settlement cannot be said to "affec[t] the behavior of the defendant toward the plaintiff." Only under these circumstances can civil rights litigation effect "the material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties" and thereby transform the plaintiff into a prevailing party. In short, a plaintiff "prevails" when actual relief on the merits of his claim materially alters the legal relationship between the parties by modifying the defendant's behavior in a way that directly benefits the plaintiff.

Id. at 111-12, 113 S.Ct. 566 (alteration in original) (internal citations omitted). In Foreman, pre-Buckhannon, this Court declined to definitively resolve whether, after Farrar, the catalyst theory was viable. 193 F.3d at 320 (labeling Farrar "seemingly at odds with the catalyst theory which allows a plaintiff to claim prevailing party status even if there is no material change in the legal relationship between the parties"). Bu...