Hadix v. Johnson
| Decision Date | 17 April 1998 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 96-2567,96-2568,97-1218 and 97-1272,96-2588,96-2586,s. 96-2567 |
| Citation | 143 F.3d 246,1998 WL 177343 |
| Parties | Everett HADIX, et al. (96-2567/2568); Mary Glover, et al. (96-2586/2588; 97-1218/1272), Plaintiffs-Appellees/Cross-Appellants, v. Perry M. JOHNSON, Director, et al., Defendants-Appellants/Cross-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Leo H. Friedman (argued and briefed), Office of the Attorney General, Corrections Division, Lansing, MI, for Appellants.
Deborah A. LaBelle (argued and briefed), Law Offices of Deborah LaBelle, Jeffrey D. Dillman (argued), Ann Arbor, MI, Michael Barnhart (briefed), Detroit, MI, for Appellees.
Before: KENNEDY, JONES, and SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judges.
JONES, J. (p. 259), delivered a separate concurring opinion.
These four appeals primarily concern attorney fees in the Michigan prison reform litigation which has been the subject of numerous appeals to our Court for decision. We have consolidated the appeals for decision. One of these appeals, No. 97-1218, is moot because the order challenged in that case has expired by its terms. The three other appeals present overlapping issues surrounding the propriety of three awards of attorney fees for work performed primarily during the period of January 1, 1996 through June 30, 1996.
The major issue before us is whether the attorney fee limitation of section 803(d) of the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA" or the "Act"), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d) applies to work performed after the PLRA's enactment date of April 26, 1996 in a case filed before the enactment date. Section 803(d), among other things, places a cap on the hourly rate attorneys may be awarded under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 in civil rights litigation brought by prisoners. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d)(3). Recently, in a separate Glover appeal, we held that section 1997e(d) does not apply to work performed prior to the PLRA's enactment. Glover v. Johnson, 138 F.3d 229 (6th Cir.1998). For reasons fully explained below, we conclude that section 1997e(d) is likewise inapplicable to post-enactment work. Neither the language of the statute nor the legislative history permits us to conclude that Congress intended to differentiate between pre-enactment and post-enactment services.
In Glover, defendants also argue for reversal of the fee awards because plaintiffs were not prevailing parties within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 1988 in three appellate matters. As explained below, we uphold the awards as to two of the three matters and reverse as to the third because the work was not compensable compliance monitoring and plaintiffs did not prevail on appeal or on their petition for certiorari. On cross-appeal, the Glover plaintiffs argue that the District Court abused its discretion in declining to increase the hourly rate of a paralegal from the rate last approved by the court. We shall reject this contention as without merit.
In 1977, a now-certified class of female inmates incarcerated in the Michigan prison system, filed an action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in which they alleged violations of certain constitutional rights surrounding the conditions of their confinement. The District Court found that the Glover plaintiffs had been denied the same vocational and educational opportunities provided to male inmates, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and that the female inmates had been unconstitutionally denied meaningful access to the courts. Glover v. Johnson, 478 F.Supp. 1075 (E.D.Mich.1979) ("Glover I "). After extensive negotiations, the District Court entered an order specifying remedial actions to be undertaken by the defendants to remedy the constitutional violations found and retained jurisdiction until substantial compliance with the remedial order is achieved. Glover v. Johnson, 510 F.Supp. 1019 (E.D.Mich.1981) ("Glover II "). Neither of these orders were appealed by defendants.
On November 12, 1985, the parties stipulated to an order of the District Court, which awarded plaintiffs attorney fees, including fees for monitoring defendants' compliance with the District Court's orders, and established a system providing for plaintiffs' submission of fees and costs on a semi-annual basis and for the lodging of defendants' objections thereto. This 1985 Order, which plaintiffs contend establishes their entitlement to monitoring fees, has never been appealed. It provides in relevant part:
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiffs are entitled to attorney fees and that requests for such fees shall be submitted to opposing counsel every six months. Defendants will have twenty-eight days in which to contest the amount of the fee request.
Thus, since 1985, the parties have followed this procedure and plaintiffs' attorneys have been paid attorney fees at the prevailing market rate, which has increased over the years, to the current rate of $150.00 per hour. In a Memorandum Opinion and Order dated November 27, 1989 (the "1989 Order"), the District Court interpreted its 1985 Order as authorizing attorney fees for monitoring compliance with the court's orders in this case in addition to non-monitoring legal work, and as having decided the prevailing party issue. It also held that the prevailing party issue will not be re-decided with each petition for fees, and that the court is therefore not required to await the completion of an appeal before determining whether plaintiffs are prevailing parties on otherwise compensable work. Defendants appealed the 1989 Order, and this Court affirmed the District Court's holdings. Glover v. Johnson, 934 F.2d 703 (6th Cir.1991) ("Glover III ").
In 1980, a class of male prisoners incarcerated in the State Prison of Southern Michigan, Central Complex ("SPSM-CC"), brought a class action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging violations of their rights under the First, Eighth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The parties entered into a comprehensive consent decree, which was approved by and made an order of the District Court on April 4, 1985. The detailed 33-page consent decree addresses sanitation, health care, fire safety, overcrowding, volunteers, access to courts, food service, management, operations and mail at SPSM-CC and called for the submission of more detailed remedial plans to carry out a number of the consent decree mandates. Overall, the consent decree was intended to "assure the constitutionality" of the conditions of confinement at SPSM-CC. The Court retained jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the consent decree until compliance is achieved. Plaintiffs' attorneys have responsibility for monitoring defendants' compliance with the decree, which continues to this day.
On November 19, 1987, the District Court entered an order awarding fees and costs to plaintiffs' attorneys for compliance monitoring. Plaintiffs construe this order as establishing their entitlement to post-judgment monitoring fees. Under the terms of this order, defendants have the right to review and make objections to plaintiffs' fee requests. In the absence of agreement, the District Court will resolve the fee dispute.
In Glover and Hadix, each class of plaintiffs filed a fee petition for work performed from January 1, 1996 through June 30, 1996 pursuant to established procedure. Appeal Nos. 96-2586/2588 and 96-2567/2568. The Glover plaintiffs filed a second fee petition that covered all outstanding fees and costs related to work on two appeals. Appeal No. 97-1272. Defendants objected on several grounds to all three petitions. The District Court rejected all but one of the objections in three separate orders.
Defendants argued that the attorney fee limitation of the PLRA should be applied to the fee petitions in appeal nos. 96-2586/2588 and 96-2567/2568. In nearly identical opinions, the District Court held the fee provision inapplicable to fees earned before enactment of the PLRA but applied it to those earned thereafter.
Defendants also objected to fees for work on all appellate matters in the Glover fee petitions in appeal nos. 96-2586/2588 and 97-1272, which included work on three appeals, because plaintiffs had not prevailed in these matters. The first involves Case No. 94-1617, a 1996 appeal regarding defendants' obligation to provide legal assistance to plaintiffs for parental rights matters. This case has been decided against plaintiffs and the Supreme Court has denied their petition for certiorari. Glover v. Johnson, 75 F.3d 264 (6th Cir.) ("Glover IV "), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 67, 136 L.Ed.2d 28 (1996) (). The second involves appeal nos. 95-1903/95-2037/95-2120/96-1155, consolidated appeals regarding a Compliance Committee established by the District Court (hereinafter referred to as the "Compliance Committee appeals"). These appeals were voluntarily dismissed by stipulation of the parties in March, 1996 upon dissolution of the Committee by the District Court. The third involves appeal no. 95-1521, an appeal regarding the District Court's denial of defendants' motion to terminate the District Court's supervisory jurisdiction because substantial compliance with the Remedial Plan had been achieved (hereinafter referred to as the "termination appeal"). We recently vacated this judgment, retained jurisdiction and remanded the matter to the District Court for a new determination of whether a disparity now exists between female and male inmates in educational and vocational opportunities in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and whether female inmates are presently being denied access to the courts in violation of the First Amendment. Glover v. Johnson, 138 F.3d 229 (6th...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Madrid v. Gomez
... ... 5249, 98 Daily Journal ... D.A.R. 7389 ... Alejandro MADRID, Carlos Lutz, Ronnie Dewberry, Steven ... Villa, Bruce Vorse, and Moses Johnson, Plaintiffs-Appellees, ... James GOMEZ, Steven Cambra, Susan Steinberg, M.D., Robert ... Ayers, Defendants-Appellants ... Alejandro MADRID, ... denied, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 880, 139 L.Ed.2d 869 (1998), whereas the Sixth Circuit concluded that they do not, see Hadix v. Johnson, 143 F.3d 246, 249--55 (6th Cir.1998). 6 We must now enter the thicket ... Page 1035 ... Recent Supreme Court ... ...
-
Walker v. Bain
... ... the decision to award fees is left to the trial court's broad discretion, which is given substantial deference by the appellate courts, see Hadix v. Johnson, 65 F.3d 532, 534 (6th Cir.1995) ( "Hadix I" ), the court's discretion "must be guided by the statutory presumption that fees should be ... ...
-
P.G. v. Brick Tp. Bd. of Educ.
... ... 546, 559, 106 S.Ct. 3088, 92 L.Ed.2d 439 (1986), supplemented by 483 U.S. 711, 107 S.Ct. 3078, 97 L.Ed.2d 585 (1987); Hadix v. Johnson, 1998 FED App. 0117P, ¶¶ 34-46, 143 F.3d 246, 256-59 (6th Cir.1998), aff'd on other grounds sub nom., Martin v. Hadix, 527 U.S. 343, ... ...
-
Binta B. v. Gordon
... ... 1396, et seq., and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In March of 1983, Donna Owens, Agnes Denton, Ollie Johnson, Gaynell Grier and Dorothy Cantrell were granted leave to intervene as plaintiffs. Later that year, plaintiffs' counsel notified the court and the ... Id. Seven years after Glover, in Hadix v. Johnson, 143 F.3d 246, 256 (6th Cir.1998), we relied on Glover and affirmed that when plaintiffs seek fees for compliance monitoring, plaintiffs ... ...