Blackman v. District of Columbia

• Decision Date: 05 August 2004
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A. 97-1629(PLF).,No. CIV.A. 97-2402(PLF).,CIV.A. 97-1629(PLF).,CIV.A. 97-2402(PLF).
• Citation: 328 F.Supp.2d 36
• Parties: Mikeisha BLACKMAN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants. James Jones, et al., Plaintiffs, v. District of Columbia, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

328 F.Supp.2d 36

Mikeisha BLACKMAN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.

James Jones, et al., Plaintiffs, v. District of Columbia, et al., Defendants.

No. CIV.A. 97-1629(PLF).

No. CIV.A. 97-2402(PLF).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

August 5, 2004.

Elise T. Baach, Washington, DC, pro se.

Andrew L. Lipps, Ky Elaine Kirby, Swidler, Berlin, Shereff & Friedman, L.L.P., Myrna L. Fawcett, Bonita Alexis Jones-Moon, Arthur Hughes Fawcett, Jr., Fawcett & Fawcett, Alisa H. Reff, Drinker, Biddle & Reath, Travis A. Murrell, Murrell & Associates, James E. Brown, James E. Brown & Associates, PLLC, James E. Williams, Jester & Williams, Urenthea McQuinn, Maria Ludmila Merkowitz, Office of Corporation Counsel, Ronald Lee Drake, Tamara Lynn Seltzer, Margaret A. Kohn, Donna Lee Wulkan, Anna Elizabeth Jenefsky, Karen D. Alvarez, Lawrence Hart Huebner, Laura Nicole Rinaldi, Matthew I. Fraidin, Jesse P. Goode, Washington, DC, Carolyn W. Houck, Chevy Chase, MD, Paul Leonard Chassy, Chassy & Chassy, Kensington, MD, Daniel Adlai Katz, Andalman & Flynn, Silver Spring, MD, Ellen Douglass Dalton, Paul S. Dalton, William E. Houston, Dalton & Dalton, P.C., Alexandria, VA, Diana Marjorie Savit, Savit & Szymkowicz, LLP, Bethesda, MD, Haylie Michelle Iseman, Michael J. Eig, Michael J. Eig and Associates, P.C., Chevy Chase, MD, Matthew Barry Bogin, Futrovsky, Nitkin & Scherr, Chartered, Rockville, MD, for Plaintiffs.

Cary D. Pollak, Daniel Albert Rezneck, Jeffery Thomas Infelise, Robert C. Utiger, Eden I. Miller, Robert Ray Rigsby, Veronica A. Porter, Office of Corporation Counsel, Daniel Herbert Margolis, Patton Boggs LLP, Lisa Annette Bell, Office of the General Counsel, Cathye Hopkins, Veleter Mazych, DCPS General Counsel, Maria L. Merkowitz, Assistant Corporation Counsel, Washington, DC, Laurie Pouzzner McManus, Arlington, VA, for Defendants.

Evangeline Covington, Adult Legal, LLC, Washington, DC, for Interested Party.

James E. Williams, III, Elizabeth Tacy Jester, Jester & Williams, Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs and Claimants.

Charles A. Moran, Fawcett & Fawcett, Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs and Movants.

Maya Alexandri, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, Karen D. Alvarez, Washington, DC, for Movants.

Lisa Kay Coleman, Office of Adjudications & Hearings, Washington, DC, for Intervenor.

OPINION AND ORDER

PAUL L. FRIEDMAN, District Judge.

This action was filed under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to enforce the rights of the plaintiff class members under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400 et seq., and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §§ 701 et seq. Before the Court are three motions for attorneys' fees and costs: (1) the motion of Diana Blackwell, filed on behalf of herself and her daughter Equilla Blackwell; (2) the motion of Victoria Harris, filed on behalf of herself and her daughter Chandra Harris; and (3) the motion of Dionne Timmons, on behalf of herself and her son Donnell Timmons. Defendants filed an opposition to each motion, plaintiffs filed reply briefs and supplemental requests for attorneys' fees and costs. In the interim, the parties also briefed the issue of whether the Supreme Court's decision in Buckhannon Board & Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Dept. of Health & Human Resources, 532 U.S. 598, 121 S.Ct. 1835, 149 L.Ed.2d 855 (2001), affects the Court's analysis of plaintiffs' motions.¹ Upon consideration of the arguments of the parties, the Court concludes that plaintiffs are entitled to attorneys' fees, and their motions therefore are granted.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History of this Action

On May 14, 1998, the Court certified a class with two subclasses in the consolidated cases of Blackman v. District of Columbia, Civil Action No. 97-1629(PLF), and Curtis v. District of Columbia, Civil Action No. 97-2402(PLF).² The first subclass the Blackman subclass, is defined as "all persons now, and in the future, who present complaints to DCPS pursuant to Section 615(b)(6) of the IDEA and whose requests for impartial due process hearings under Section 615(f) of the IDEA and D.C. Mun. Regs. Tit. 5, § 3021.5 are overdue according to those provisions; and their next friends." Blackman v. District of Columbia, Civil Action No. 97-1629, Order (D.D.C. May 14, 1998). The second subclass, the Jones subclass, is defined as "all children, now and in the future, who are entitled to have DCPS provide them with a free appropriate public education [FAPE] and who have been denied same because DCPS either (a) has failed to fully and timely implement the determination of hearing officers, or (b) failed to fully and timely implement agreements concerning a child's identification, evaluation, educational placement, or provision of FAPE that DCPS has negotiated with the child's parent or educational advocate." Id.

On June 3, 1998, the Court granted plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment as to liability. See Order and Opinion of June 3, 1998. The Court declined to issue a class-wide preliminary injunction at that time, concluding that such a broad injunction "would be ineffective and impractical." Blackman v. District of Columbia, 185 F.R.D. 4, 5 (D.D.C.1999). Instead, the Court assumed that in the most severe cases, in which irreparable injury was threatened absent some action by the District, "the District would not ignore its obligation to take such action even absent resolution of the claims of the class as a whole." Id. By 1999, however, the Court concluded that the District had ignored its obligations, even in severe cases, and appointed Elise Baach, Esq., as a Special Master "for the limited purposes of assisting the Court in resolving the requests for immediate injunctive relief," which was "the least intrusive and most effective way to ensure that the noncompliance with the IDEA which gave rise to liability does not cause irreparable injury to any individual class member pending the determination of class-wide relief." Id. at 7, 8.

The Order of Reference entrusted the Special Master "with the dual function of facilitating a mutually satisfactory resolution of each such individual claim, and, in the absence of a mutually acceptable resolution, providing the Court with a report and recommendation with respect to whether any particular plaintiff is entitled to preliminary injunctive relief." Blackman v. District of Columbia, 185 F.R.D. at 9. The Order broadly applied to "any motion filed in this Court by a member or members of the class certified in this case which seeks a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction or other emergency injunctive relief in addition to or more quickly than any relief that will be afforded to the class as a whole either after trial ... or upon settlement, for injury stemming from the liability that the Court has found in this case." Id. The Order of Reference included a detailed mechanism by which the Special Master would assist the Court in providing a plaintiff relief while concurrently protecting the interests of the District. See id. at 9-10.

B. Plaintiffs' Motions for Attorneys' Fees and Costs

These three plaintiffs come before the Court in very similar postures. On December 15, 1999, plaintiff Diane Blackwell, on behalf of her minor child Equilla Blackwell, filed a motion for preliminary injunction with the Court in accordance with the Order of Reference. Ms. Blackwell sought an order enforcing a November 1, 1999 settlement agreement obtained in lieu of a due process proceeding initiated under the IDEA. Defendants subsequently complied with the November 1, 1999 settlement agreement, and on August 31, 2000, the Special Master therefore filed a Report and Recommendation with the Court recommending that plaintiff's motion for injunctive relief be denied. The Court denied Ms. Blackwell's motion for preliminary injunction on September 20, 2000. Ms. Blackwell then filed the current motion on October 3, 2000, seeking $11,286.00 in attorneys' fees and $317.35 in costs. See Points and Authorities in Support of Plaintiff's Motion for an Award of Attorney's Fees and Costs filed on behalf of Diane Blackwell at 1-2. On November 15, 2001, plaintiff filed a supplement to her motion, moving for an additional $1,250.00 in fees and $40.88 in costs for counsel's efforts in litigating the instant motion. See Supplement to Plaintiffs' Motion for an Award of Attorneys' Fees and Costs at 2.

On August 8, 2000, plaintiff Dionne Timmons, on behalf of her minor child Donnell Timmons, filed a motion for preliminary injunction with the Court seeking compliance with a January 11, 2000 settlement agreement. After Ms. Timmons filed her motion for preliminary injunction, defendants complied with the requirements of the settlement agreement. On January 22, 2001, the Special Master therefore filed a Report and Recommendation with the Court recommending that plaintiff's motion for injunctive relief be denied, and the Court denied plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction on February 12, 2001. Ms. Timmons then filed her current motion on March 7, 2001, seeking $3,094.00 in attorneys' fees and $154.03 in costs. See Points and Authorities in Support of Plaintiff's Motion for an Award of Attorney's Fees and Costs filed on behalf of Dionne Timmons at 1-2. On November 19, 2001, plaintiff filed a supplement to her motion, moving for an additional $1,260.00 in fees and $20.31 in costs for counsel's efforts in litigating the instant motion. See Supplement to Plaintiffs' Motion for an Award of Attorneys' Fees and Costs at 2.

On August 16, 2000, plaintiff Victoria Harris, on behalf of her minor child Chanda Harris, filed a motion for preliminary injunction with the Court in accordance with the procedures specified in the Order of Reference. Ms. Harris sought compliance with a February 4, 2000 settlement agreement entered into between the parties pursuant to plaintiffs' rights under the IDEA. After Ms....