Carruthers v. Jenne, 76-6086-CIV-WMH.

• Decision Date: 24 June 2002
• Docket Number: No. 76-6086-CIV-WMH.,76-6086-CIV-WMH.
• Citation: 209 F.Supp.2d 1294
• Parties: Ollie CARRUTHERS, et.al., Plaintiffs, v. Ken JENNE, et.al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

209 F.Supp.2d 1294

Ollie CARRUTHERS, et.al., Plaintiffs, v. Ken JENNE, et.al., Defendants.

No. 76-6086-CIV-WMH.

United States District Court, S.D. Florida.

June 24, 2002.

Christopher C. Cloney, Christopher Cloney, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Plaintiffs.

John Tiedeberg, Davie, FL, Bruce Jolly, Purdy, Jolly & Guiffreda, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, FL, Hollie Hawn, Broward County Legal Dept., Fort Lauderdale, FL, Elijah Williams, Legal Dept. BSO, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Professor Howard Messing (Special Master), Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES

HOEVELER, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court on the Plaintiffs' Motion For Payment of Attorney Fees And Request For Expedited Procedure, filed February 15, 2002. In deciding this Motion, the Court has also considered the Defendants' Notification of Reliance on Automatic Stay Provision of the PLRA or Disallowance of Continued Monitoring, filed April 15, 2002. In this Order, the Court holds that the automatic stay provision of the PLRA applies only to prospective relief within a consent decree and not the consent decree itself. Additionally, the Court holds that attorney fees and monitoring costs are not "prospective relief" under the PLRA.

BACKGROUND

On July, 1994, the Parties in this matter entered into a consent decree, which this Court later ratified. See Order dated January 31, 1995. The consent decree provided for broad prospective relief with respect to the conditions of confinement within the Broward County jail system. Additionally, the consent decree provided for monthly payment of the Plaintiffs' attorney fees, and compliance monitoring, which would be completed by the Plaintiffs' counsel. See Stip. for Entry of Cons.Dec. ¶¶ 15-22.

In August, 1996, subsequent to the enactment of the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA"), the Defendants filed a Joint Motion to Terminate/Dissolve Consent Decree ("Motion to Terminate"). This Motion remains pending. On August 2, 2001, the Court appointed an expert, Steve Martin, to examine the conditions of the Broward County jails and prepare a report as to their constitutionality. After such report has been prepared, the Court will conduct an evidentiary hearing, after which it intends to rule on the Defendants' Motion to Terminate.

The Defendants, however, argue that until the Court rules on their Motion to Terminate, all prospective relief is automatically stayed by operation of the PLRA. Thus, the Defendants have stopped paying the Plaintiffs' counsel attorney and monitoring fees. The Plaintiffs' counsel has brought this motion to recover such fees.

ANALYSIS

The PLRA limits the Court's power to continue "certain forward looking relief" in civil actions challenging conditions in prisons. See Benjamin v. Jacobson, 172 F.3d 144, 154-55 (2nd Cir.1999). The PLRA teaches that a court shall not approve any prospective relief unless the court finds that such relief is (1) narrowly drawn; (2) extends no further than necessary to correct the violation of the involved federal right; and (3) is the least intrusive means necessary to correct the violation of that federal right. See 18 U.S.C. § 3626(a)(1). The PLRA provides that where the Order granting prospective relief does not specify that these three conditions are met, the prospective relief shall be immediately terminated upon motion by either party. See 18 U.S.C. § 3626(b)(2). In this case, the Order granting the prospective relief did not specify that these conditions were met because it predated the PLRA. Thus, in August of 1996, the Defendants filed a motion to terminate on which the Court has not yet ruled.

The PLRA provides that if the Court has not ruled on a motion to terminate the consent decree 30 days, or up to 90 days for good cause, from the day of its filing, all prospective relief will be automatically stayed until a ruling on the motion to terminate has been entered. See 18 § U.S.C. 3626(e)(2) and (2)(A)(i). There is no question that the Court has not ruled on the Motion within 90 days, and thus all prospective relief is clearly stayed under the PLRA.

The two questions presented to this Court are (1) whether attorney fees and monitoring fees are considered "prospective relief" for purposes of the PLRA; and if not (2) is the entire consent decree stayed by operation of the PLRA, whether or not certain provisions relate to "prospective relief"? The Court will address these questions in reverse order.

I. Is the entire consent decree stayed by operation of the PLRA?

The first question this Court must address is whether the entire consent decree is stayed by operation of the automatic stay provision of the PLRA. In other words, is it only prospective relief that is stayed by the PLRA or everything which flows from consent decree? This question is essential to the Court's analysis because if the entire consent decree is stayed, it is irrelevant whether or not attorney fees and monitoring are considered to be prospective relief.

This is not the first court to address the issue of whether the PLRA's termination provision stays the entire consent decree. In fact, the circuits have split on the issue. The First and Second Circuits have held that the automatic stay provision applies to the entire consent decree. See Inmates of Suffolk County Jail v. Rouse, 129 F.3d 649 (1st Cir.1997); Benjamin, 172 F.3d at 158. The Ninth Circuit, and Judge Calabresi of the Second Circuit, have held the opposite, that the automatic stay applies only to prospective relief within the consent decree. See Gilmore v. People of the State of California, 220 F.3d 987, 1000 (9th Cir. 2000); Benjamin, 172 F.3d at 172-74 (Calabresi, C.J., concurring).¹ The dispute between the circuits seems to center around both the statutory language and the legislative history.

The statutory language dispute focuses on the meaning of the statutory language of 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g), which defines "prospective relief" § (g)(7), "relief" § (g)(9), and "consent decree" § (g)(1). The Second Circuit argued that the PLRA requires termination of the entire consent decree because "prospective relief" is defined under the PLRA as including consent decrees. Specifically, the Second Circuit, read that "prospective relief" was defined as "all relief other than compensatory monetary damages," and that "relief" was defined as "all relief in any form that may be granted or approved by the court and includes consent decrees ..." 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(7) & (g)(9) (emphasis added). Thus, the Second Circuit concluded that it was clear from the statutory language that the termination provision applied to the entire consent decree.

However, the First and Second Circuit, along with virtually all the courts to have addressed the issue, noted that the definition of "relief" under the PLRA is inconsistent with the typical use of the word "relief" and "consent decree." See Inmates of Suffolk County Jail, 129 F.3d at 654. A consent decree is not generally considered relief. A consent decree is normally considered "a judgment that engenders relief" and not the relief itself. See Id. To be consistent with common legal usage, the definition of `relief' should have included all relief `contained within a consent decree.' Thus, although the First and Second Circuits choose to take a literal interpretation of the language, they recognized that the interpretation was awkward and unnatural. See discussion infra.

Moreover, the First and Second Circuit did not consider the statutory definition of "consent decree." See Gilmore, 220 F.3d at 1001. The PLRA defines a consent decree as "any relief entered by the court that is based in whole or in part upon the consent or acquiescence of the parties." 18 U.S.C. § 3626(g)(1) (emphasis added). The Ninth Circuit noted that "a consent decree is not merely a form of relief," but the PLRA "defines a consent decree exclusively in terms of the relief it provides." See Gilmore, 220 F.3d at 1001. In other words, by defining a consent decree solely in terms of the relief it provides, the statute refers not to the whole consent decree but merely to the relief engendered therein. Thus, the Ninth Circuit correctly concluded that "the termination provisions do not require the termination of consent decrees or any other final judgments of Article III courts. The provisions apply exclusively to prospective relief." Id. The Ninth Circuit argued that its construction was preferable because it flowed more naturally from the statutory language and because it avoided constitutional questions.

The legislative history dispute centers around statements in the Congressional Record which suggest that Congress wanted to truncate the federal judiciary's involvement in prison administration and a specific House Conference Report which states "[p]rior consent decrees are made terminable upon the motion of either party, and can be continued only if the court finds that imposed relief is necessary to correct the violation of the federal right." See Inmates of Suffolk County Jail, 129 F.3d at 655 (citing H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 104-378 at 166 (1995)). However, the fact that Congress had a general goal of truncating the federal judiciary's involvement in prison administration does nothing to answer the specific question addressed by this Court today. Additionally, the quoted House Report actually supports the position of the Ninth Circuit, because the consent decree is discussed solely in terms of the relief imposed. Judge Calabresi rightly held that "there is nothing in the legislative history that in any way suggests that Congress cared a jot or tittle about whether relief under the decrees was to be precluded as a result of court adherence to the PLRA, or whether the prior court judgments that is, the decrees themselves were to be terminated directly by congressional fiat." Benjamin, 172 F.3d at 174 (Calabresi, C.J., concurring) (emphasis in original). For these...