Jay v. Dist. of Columbia

• Decision Date: 03 December 2014
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 13–01270 RBW
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
• Parties: Merrell Jay, Plaintiff, v. District of Columbia, Defendant.

75 F.Supp.3d 214

Merrell Jay, Plaintiff

v.District of Columbia, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 13–01270 RBW

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed December 3, 2014

Alana Michelle Hecht, D.C. Disability Law Group, P.C., Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Tasha Monique Hardy, Office of Attorney General, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

REGGIE B. WALTON, United States District Judge

The plaintiff brought suit in this case against the Government of the District to Columbia to recover attorney's fees incurred during administrative proceedings conducted under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 (2012) (the “IDEA”). Complaint for Declaratory Judgment & Relief (“Compl.”) ¶ 1. Currently before this Court is the Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment (“Pl.'s Mot.”) and the Defendant's Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment and Cross–Motion for Summary Judgment (“Def.'s Opp'n). After carefully considering the parties' submissions,¹ the Court concludes that it must grant in part and deny in part both the plaintiff's motion and the defendant's cross-motion for the following reasons.

I. BACKGROUND

The following facts are undisputed unless indicated otherwise. The “[p]laintiff is a twenty[-]year[-]old-adult student with a disability who has been deemed eligible to receive special education and related services from the District of Columbia Public Schools [ (the “District”) ].” Compl. ¶ 6. On June 24, 2013, the plaintiff filed a thirty-nine page due process complaint against the District pursuant to the IDEA, “alleging [three] separate violations of [the] IDEA, including whether [the District] denied [him] ... [Free Access to a Public Education (“FAPE”) ]....” Pl.'s Mem., Exhibit (“Ex.”) 3 (Verified Statement of Attorney Alana Hecht (“Hecht Decl.”) ¶ 51; see also Compl. ¶ 39; Compl., Ex. B (Due Process Complaint) at 39. “The parties had a resolution session on July 16, 2013[, where n]o agreement was reached between the parties, and the parties expressed a desire to go immediately to the due process hearing.” Pl.'s Mem., Ex. 3 (Hecht Decl.) ¶ 54. “Prior to [the plaintiff's] counsel doing much of the preparation for the Due Process Hearing, she reached out to [the District's] counsel about the possibility that the parties may be able to come to an agreement in the form of a Consent Order.” Id. ¶ 57. On August 13, 2013, the parties appeared for the scheduled due process hearing, Pl.'s Mem. at 22; however, it is not entirely clear to what extent the due process hearing was conducted, compare Compl. ¶ 48 (“[The plaintiff] proceeded with [his] case in chief and called [one] witness prior to the lunch break.”), and Def.'s Opp'n, Ex. 4 (Hearing Transcript) (showing the plaintiff's attorney commenced with the direct examination of Ms. Chithalina Khanchalern), with Pl.'s Mem., Ex. 3 (Hecht Decl.) ¶ 67 (“Instead of having a hearing, the parties engaged in back and forth negotiations regarding the formulation of a Consent Order.”). However, ultimately the parties agreed to the issuance of a “Consent Order ... that would provide [the plaintiff] with nearly all [of] the relief requested in the Due Process Complaint ..., and would still allow the [plaintiff] to be reimbursed for his attorney['s] fees for the time and costs that [his attorney] expended in litigating the case.” Pl.'s Mem., Ex. 3 (Hecht Decl.) ¶ 68. On August 15, 2013, the hearing officer issued a Consent Order, consistent with these terms. Compl., Ex. C (Consent Order) at 4.

Following the issuance of the Consent Order, the plaintiff instituted this suit to recover his attorney's fees and costs in the amount of $26,253.72 incurred preparing for and participating in the aborted administrative proceedings and negotiating the parties' settlement.² Pl.'s Mem., Ex. 2 (D.C. Disability Law Group, P.C.—Project Summary (“Invoices”)). The District disputes the reasonableness of the requested fees. See generally Def.'s Opp'n.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A motion for summary judgment should be granted “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). “[A] material fact is ‘genuine’ ... if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party” on an element of the nonmoving party's claim. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). When ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the Court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Holcomb v. Powell, 433 F.3d 889, 895 (D.C.Cir.2006) (citing Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., 530 U.S. 133, 150, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000) ). If the Court concludes that “the nonmoving party has failed to make a sufficient showing on an essential element of its case with respect to which [that party] has the burden of proof,” then the moving party is entitled to summary judgment. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

III. LEGAL ANALYSIS

Under the IDEA, federal district courts have the authority to “award reasonable attorney['s] fees as part of the costs to a prevailing party who is the parent of a child with a disability.”³

20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(3)(B)(i). “A court's determination of the appropriate attorney's fees ... is based on a two-step inquiry.” Jackson v. District of Columbia, 696 F.Supp.2d 97, 101 (D.D.C.2010). Initially, a district court must determine if the plaintiff is the prevailing party, and next, the court must “determine whether the attorney's fees sought are reasonable.” Id. Here, the District does not contest that the plaintiff was the “prevailing party” within the meaning of § 1415(i)(3)(B), and thus concedes that he is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees under the statute. See Def.'s Opp'n at 1 (“Plaintiff is only entitled to [three-fourths] of the [amount claimed] for this matter....”). Therefore, this Court's analysis is confined to the reasonableness of the plaintiff's fee requests.

A. The Reasonableness of the Plaintiff's Requested Fees

“Reasonable” attorney's fees are determined by the reasonable number of hours expended multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate. See Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). Importantly, the plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating that both the hourly rate and the number of hours expended on particular tasks are reasonable.⁴ In re North, 59 F.3d 184, 189 (D.C.Cir.1995). A plaintiff can show that an hourly rate is reasonable by “submit[ting] evidence on at least three fronts: the attorney's billing practices; the attorneys' skill, experience, and reputation; and the prevailing market rates in the relevant community.” Jackson, 696 F.Supp.2d at 101 (internal quotation and citation omitted). If the opposing party seeks to rebut the reasonableness of the rate, “it must do so by equally specific countervailing evidence.” Covington v. District of Columbia, 57 F.3d 1101, 1109 (D.C.Cir.1995) (quoting Nat'l Ass'n of Concerned Veterans v. Sec'y of Def., 675 F.2d 1319, 1326 (D.C.Cir.1982) ). Here, the District's objections bear primarily on the final element—the prevailing market rate for the relevant community. Thus the Court need only consider whether, in its discretion, the plaintiff's attorney's use of the Laffey Matrix rates are appropriate in this case.⁵ See 20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(3)(B).

The District objects to the reasonableness of Ms. Hecht's hourly billable rate of $290.00 for the work she performed. Def.'s Opp'n at 2–10. The plaintiff contends that the hourly rate of $290.00 per hour is reasonable because it is consistent with the rates for an attorney with her years of experience as set out in the Laffey Matrix, a fee schedule for the calculation of attorney's fees in complex litigation first adopted in Laffey v. Northwest Airlines , Inc., 572 F.Supp. 354 (D.D.C.1983), rev'd on other grounds, 746 F.2d 4 (D.C.Cir.1984), and now updated by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, and thus, can, if appropriate in a given case, be the prevailing market rate for attorneys litigating IDEA cases. Pl.'s Mem at 5; Pl.'s Mot., Ex. 4 (Laffey Matrix). The District contends that the “Laffey rates are not presumptively appropriate” and that “[f]ederal courts need not automatically award Laffey rates” in IDEA matters. Def.'s Opp'n at 6. The District proposes that the plaintiff be awarded attorney's fees of $217.50, a rate equal to three-quarters of the Laffey Matrix rate because the underlying administrative proceeding was not sufficiently complex to warrant full payment under the Laffey matrix, id. at 2, 6, 8, given that “IDEA cases are generally not complex,” id. at 6–7 (quoting McClam v. District of Columbia, 808 F.Supp.2d 184, 190 (D.D.C.2011) ). The plaintiff responds that “[e]ven if complexity was the touchstone for determining reasonable legal fees, the case litigated [on the plaintiff's behalf] was sufficiently complex to warrant Laffey Matrix [r]ates.” Pl.'s Reply at 7; see also id. at 7–15 (outlining the complexity of the case at bar).

The Court first notes that current and former members of this Court, including the undersigned, have rejected the District's argument that “IDEA cases are generally not complex” and have found the Laffey Matrix is an appropriate measure of the prevailing market rate in IDEA cases. E.g., Jackson, 696 F.Supp.2d at 102–03 (collecting cases); see also Garvin v. District of Columbia, 851 F.Supp.2d 101, 105–06 (D.D.C.2012) (Walton, J.). Thus, while the Laffey Matrix may be an appropriate starting point for determining a reasonable rate in IDEA litigation, “[t]he [m]atrix is not ipso facto determinative of the proper hourly rate,....” Id. at 106. “In this court, there has not been a unified approach to the proper rates for attorney ['s] fees in IDEA cases, and there is authority that...