Jenkins by Jenkins v. State of Mo.
| Decision Date | 01 December 1997 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 97-1968,97-2078,s. 97-1968 |
| Parties | 122 Ed. Law Rep. 967 Chinyere JENKINS, by her next friend, Joi JENKINS; Nicholas Paul Winchester-Rabelier, by his next friend, Paula Winchester; Margo Vaughn-Bey, by her next friend, Franklin Vaughn-Bey; Nicholas C. Light, by his next friend, Marian Light; Stephon D. Jackson, by his next friend, B.J. Jones; Travis N. Peter, by his next friend, Debora Chadd-Peter; Leland Guess, by his next friend, Sharon Guess, Plaintiffs-Appellants, American Federation of Teachers, Local 691, Intervenor below-Appellee, v. STATE OF MISSOURI; Mel Carnahan, Governor of the State of Missouri; Bob Holden, Treasurer of the State of Missouri; Missouri State Board of Education; Peter Herschend, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Thomas R. Davis, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Robert E. Bartman, Commissioner of Education of the State of Missouri; Gary D. Cunningham, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Rice Pete Burns, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Sharon M. Williams, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Betty Preston, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Jacquelline Wellington, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Russell Thompson, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; School District of Kansas City; Dr. Henry D. Williams, Superintendent thereof; Terry M. Riley, Member of the Board of Directors; Lance Loewenstein, Member of the Board of Directors; Marilyn Simmons, Member of the Board of Directors; Sandy Aguire Mayer, Member of the Board of Directors; John A. Rios, Member of the Board of Directors; Darwin Curls, Member of the Board of Directors; Patricia Kurtz, Member of the Board of Directors; Edward J. Newsome, Member of the Board of Directors; Dr. Julia H. Hill, Member of the Board of Directors; John W. Still, Member of the Board of Directors, Defendants-Appellees. Chinyere JENKINS, by her next friend, Joi JENKINS; Nicholas Paul Winchester-Rabelier, by his next friend, Paula Winch |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Arthur A. Benson, II, Jamie K. Lansford, Benson & Associates, Kansas City, MO, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Scott Alan Raisher, Jolley & Walsh, Kansas City, MO, for American Federation of Teachers, Local 691.
Bart Anton Matanic, John R. Munich, Attorney General's Office, Jefferson City, MO, for State of Mo., Mel Carnahan, Bob Holden, Missouri State Bd. of Educ., Peter Herschend, Thomas R. Davis, Robert E. Bartman, Gary D. Cunningham, Rice Pete Burns, Sharon M. Williams, Betty Preston, Jacquelline Wellington, Russell Thompson.
Mark A. Thornhill, Spencer & Fane, Kansas City, MO, Taylor Fields, Fields & Brown, Kansas City, MO, for School Dist. of Kansas City, Dr. Henry D. Williams, Terry M. Riley, Lance Loewenstein, Marilyn Simmons, Sandy Aguire Mayer, John A. Rios, Darwin Curls, Patricia Kurtz, Edward J. Newsome, Dr. Julia H. Hill, John W. Still.
Before McMILLIAN, HEANEY, and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judges.
The Jenkins Class presents an application for fees for the appeals that resulted in our affirmance of the district court's decision denying unitary status and approving the settlement between the State of Missouri and the Kansas City, Missouri School District. The Jenkins Class appealed the order approving the settlement, and the State appealed the district court's order denying unitary status. Our decision on these appeals is Jenkins v. State of Missouri, 122 F.3d 588 (8th Cir.1997) (Jenkins XIV ).
The State objects to the request for a fee because the Jenkins Class was unsuccessful in its main goal of keeping the State in the case and because the Jenkins Class appeal sought unsuccessfully to enhance its victory in the district court. The State also argues that the Jenkins Class's request should be reduced by sixty percent to account for the lack of success on the Agreement appeal. The Jenkins Class responds that, even though it did not succeed in its challenge to the Agreement, the Agreement issue was inextricably intertwined with the unitariness issue on which it did prevail. The State argues that the unitariness issue and Agreement issues were not inextricably intertwined, and therefore the Jenkins Class should not receive fees for briefing its appeal of the district court's approval of the Agreement.
The State also argues that if the Jenkins Class receives any fee, it should be paid by KCMSD under the terms of the settlement Agreement.
The final position of the State is that, should the State not prevail on its other arguments, the court should exclude all time requested for the stay motion filed by the Jenkins Class and time spent by counsel for the Jenkins Class in discussions with the media.
The State first argues that the unitary status and agreement issues were not inextricably intertwined, and thus the Class should not receive fees for briefing the appeal of the district court's approval of the Agreement. This argument, however, is directly contrary to the ruling of the district court granting fees to the Jenkins Class for the trial court activities in litigating the unitary status/Agreement issues. The district court referred to these as inter-related claims. In affirming the district court order, we stated in our unpublished order in Jenkins v. Missouri, No. 97-2626, 1997 WL 464173 (8th Cir. Aug. 14, 1997) (unpublished), vacated in part on different grounds, 128 F.3d 1201(8th Cir.1997):
The district court's order on the motions for unitariness and approval of the agreement demonstrates the close inter-relationship between the issues pertaining to unitary status and approval of the settlement. Indeed, the district court's findings that the achievement gap had not been remedied, but was to be remedied within three years, and that the Green 1 factors, with the exception of extracurricular activities, would be unitary within two or three years, were essentially the factual findings undergirding the district court's approval of the settlement between the State and the KCMSD.
Id. at * 1. (Footnote omitted). The State filed a motion for rehearing en banc with respect to that order, directed only to the issue of expert witness fees. This court has granted the State's motion. Order of October 10, 1997. The State did not challenge that part of our order in No. 97-2626 which concerns the same issues before us in this appeal.
The inter-relation between the Agreement issues and the unitariness issues is demonstrated in our opinion in Jenkins XIV, 122 F.3d at 601-03. We stated that the basic foundation of the district court's approval of the Agreement was the assumption that KCMSD will be unitary within two to three years. Id. at 601. We discussed in some detail the testimony of the several witnesses. Id. at 601-02. Our discussion leaves no question that the issues were closely inter-related. Therefore, the Jenkins Class is entitled to a fee for both the work in defending the State's appeal of the unitariness issue and the Agreement issues.
We further reject the State's argument that the Jenkins Class "appealed seeking to expand their victory by defeating the District Court's approval of the Agreement." (citing Jenkins v. Missouri, 115 F.3d 554, 560 (8th Cir.1997), as modified, 127 F.3d 709 (8th Cir.1997) (Jenkins Fees VI )). The Jenkins Class found itself caught between the State and KCMSD in an agreement by the two that...
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