Clark v. Township of Falls
| Decision Date | 22 November 1989 |
| Docket Number | 89-1378,Nos. 89-1352,s. 89-1352 |
| Citation | 890 F.2d 625 |
| Parties | David CLARK v. TOWNSHIP OF FALLS and James Kettler, Individually and as Chief of Police of the Township of Falls, and Charles Chimera, Individually and as Former Supervisor, Chairman of the Board of the Township of Falls, and August Baur, Individually and as Township Manager of the Township of Falls. Appeal of TOWNSHIP OF FALLS and James Kettler, Individually and as Chief of Police of the Township of Falls, and Charles Chimera, Individually and as Former Supervisor, Chairman of the Board of the Township of Falls. David CLARK, Appellant, v. TOWNSHIP OF FALLS and James Kettler, Individually and as Chief of Police of the Township of Falls, and Charles Chimera, Individually and as Former Supervisor, Chairman of the Board of the Township of Falls, and August Baur, Individually and as Township Manager of the Township of Falls, Township of Falls and James Kettler, Individually and as Chief of Police of the Township of Falls, and Charles Chimera, Individually and as Former Supervisor, Chairman of the Board of the Township of Falls, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Robert O. Baldi (argued), Baldi & Cepparulo, P.C., New Hope, Pa., for appellant, David Clark.
Kenneth L. Oliver, Jr. (argued), Obermayer, Rebmann, Maxwell & Hippel, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellees/cross-appellants, Tp. of Falls, James Kettler and Charles Chimera.
Before GIBBONS, Chief Judge, and SLOVITER and GREENBERG, Circuit Judges.
This appeal presents the question whether an attorney may be entitled to an award of attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988 when we have reversed the jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff but the plaintiff claims he achieved one of the benefits he sought by the litigation through a post-trial out-of-court settlement of one issue. Appellant/cross-appellee David Clark brought suit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 claiming that the appellees/cross-appellants, James Kettler, Charles Chimera, and the Township of Falls, had violated his rights under the Constitution and state law. A jury found in favor of Clark on most claims and awarded him compensatory and punitive damages totaling $110,000. The district court awarded Clark attorney's fees of $34,821.38 and costs of $5,215.07, which represented a substantial reduction in the amount of fees Clark had requested.
Clark has appealed the reduction of fees, contending that the district court erred or abused its discretion in reducing his attorney's hourly rate, in cutting the number of hours reimbursed, and in failing to provide the attorney with a sufficient opportunity to provide relevant information to rebut defendants' objections. In light of our opinion filed today holding that none of Clark's constitutional and state claims can be sustained, see Clark v. Township of Falls, 890 F.2d 611 (3d Cir. 1989), we need not consider Clark's claims of error in setting the attorney's fee. In general, when a judgment in favor of a plaintiff is reversed on the merits, that party is no longer a "prevailing party" under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988 and no longer entitled to attorney's fees under that statute. See Rinker v. Napa County, 831 F.2d 829, 832 (9th Cir.1987); Turner v. McMahon, 830 F.2d 1003, 1009 (9th Cir.1987), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 59, 102 L.Ed.2d 37 (1988).
In his reply brief Clark argues that even if the judgment in his favor were reversed, he is still a prevailing party and entitled to at least some portion of the fees awarded because he received much of the benefit he sought in bringing suit. Parties are considered to be prevailing when they have succeeded on "any significant issue in the litigation which achieve[d] some of the benefit the parties sought in bringing suit." Texas State Teachers v. Garland Indep. School Dist., --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 1486, 1493, 103 L.Ed.2d 866 (1989) (quoting Nadeau v. Helgemoe, 581 F.2d 275, 278-79 (1st Cir.1978)). Applying this language, we have held that the party seeking fees must prove a causal connection between the litigation and the benefit obtained. Institutionalized Juveniles v. Secretary of Public Welfare, 758 F.2d 897, 910 (3d Cir.1985). The termination of a claim by an out-of-court settlement does not necessarily preclude the finding of a causal relationship. See Maher v. Gagne, 448 U.S. 122, 129, 100 S.Ct. 2570, 2574, 65 L.Ed.2d 653 (1980); Ashley v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 794 F.2d 128, 131 (3d Cir.1986); Disabled in Action of Pa. v. Pierce, 789 F.2d 1016, 1019 (3d Cir.1986).
Clark argues he can be considered as prevailing because after the jury rendered a verdict in his favor he moved for injunctive relief requesting that the Township be required to implement a grievance procedure through which Clark and other employees could demand a public name-clearing hearing. When the Township agreed to implement a name-clearing procedure, the parties informed the district court that the matter had been resolved and agreed to a dismissal of the motion as moot.
Because the parties could not anticipate our reversal of Clark's verdict on all claims, on appeal of the attorney's fee award the defendants have not focused on Clark's contention that he may be viewed as prevailing despite the reversal. There is some precedent in this court which may be read to support Clark's claim. In Ross v. Horn, 598 F.2d 1312 (3d Cir.1979), cert. denied, 448 U.S. 906, 100 S.Ct. 3048, 65 L.Ed.2d 1136 (1980), plaintiffs were unsuccessful in the district court on all of their challenges to New Jersey's procedures for processing suspected unemployment fraud. However, after plaintiffs filed their suit, the state implemented new procedures which, although not entirely satisfactory to the plaintiffs, were preferable to the challenged procedures. We refused to give conclusive weight to the form of the judgment and stated that the court must look instead to the practical outcome of the litigation. Id. at 1322. We held that if plaintiffs could establish that their suit was the catalyst for the changes, they were entitled to prevailing party status despite the fact that the district court had ruled against them.
Ross, of course, was decided before...
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