Knop v. Johnson

• Citation: 700 F. Supp. 1457
• Decision Date: 06 December 1988
• Docket Number: No. G84-651.,G84-651.
• Parties: Gary KNOP, John Ford, William Lovett, II, Ramando Valeroso, Gus Jansson, Pat Sommerville, Vernard Cohen, T. Jon Spytma, Robert Shipp, Butch Davis, Ron Mixon, and Kerwin Cook, individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Perry M. JOHNSON, Robert Brown, Jr., Dale Foltz, John Jabe, Theodore Koehler, John Prelesnik, and Jack Bergman, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

700 F. Supp. 1457

Gary KNOP, John Ford, William Lovett, II, Ramando Valeroso, Gus Jansson, Pat Sommerville, Vernard Cohen, T. Jon Spytma, Robert Shipp, Butch Davis, Ron Mixon, and Kerwin Cook, individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Perry M. JOHNSON, Robert Brown, Jr., Dale Foltz, John Jabe, Theodore Koehler, John Prelesnik, and Jack Bergman, Defendants.

No. G84-651.

United States District Court, W.D. Michigan, S.D.

December 6, 1988.

Adjoa Aiyetoro, Mark J. Lopez, Elizabeth Alexander Nat. Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Washington, D.C., for plaintiffs.

Thomas C. Nelson, Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Mich., Lansing, Mich., for defendants.

OPINION

ENSLEN, District Judge.

On April 12, 1988, plaintiffs filed their petition for attorneys fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. That petition seeks, in part, reimbursement for fees and costs incurred by plaintiffs' counsel in their role as amicus curiae in United States v. Michigan, No. G84-63 (W.D.Mich.). On July 5, 1988, defendants' filed a motion for partial summary judgment, contending that plaintiffs were not entitled to compensation for fees and costs incurred during their participation in United States v. Michigan, because they are not a party to that litigation, because they were not a "catalyst" for the entry of the consent decree and state plan for compliance in that litigation, and because they are not entitled to fees and costs incurred in a case in which they participate as amicus curiae. Plaintiffs contend that their participation in United States v. Michigan is necessary to protect their interests in this case and that they have prevailed on the issues raised in their complaint by participating in the implementation of the consent decree in United States v. Michigan.

Procedural Background

An understanding of the plaintiffs' role in United States v. Michigan requires a reiteration of the procedural background of that case, and of the instant litigation. On January 18, 1984, the United States filed its complaint in United States v. Michigan, challenging the constitutionality of conditions of confinement at three major penal institutions in Michigan: The State Prison of Southern Michigan; the Michigan Reformatory and the Marquette Branch Prison. Because United States v. Michigan is an action under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1997-1997j ("CRIPA"), it joins as defendants the state itself and a number of state officials. On February 23, 1984, the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, representing a class consisting of the prisoners in those institutions, filed a motion to participate in United States v. Michigan as amicus curiae, for the purpose of challenging the parties' proposed consent decree in that action. The Court granted them leave to participate as amicus curiae and considered their objections to the proposed consent decree.

On June 11, 1984, the complaint in Knop v. Johnson was filed. Plaintiffs are a class consisting of the prisoners confined in the institutions involved in United States v. Michigan, and the complaint raises many issues also addressed in United States v. Michigan. Plaintiffs' counsel is the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. Many of the defendants in Knop are also defendants in United States v. Michigan. Since Knop is an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, however, the state is not a defendant.

On July 16, 1984, a consent decree was filed, with the approval of the Court, in United States v. Michigan. Since that date, the Court has held numerous hearings designed to determine the defendants' compliance with the terms of that decree. Counsel for the plaintiffs in Knop v. Johnson have participated in each of those hearings as amicus curiae.

Because the complaint in Knop v. Johnson raised many claims already under consideration in United States v. Michigan, including overcrowding, sanitation, food service, mental health services and medical care, as well as several claims not addressed in United States v. Michigan, the Court severed the latter issues for trial and deferred consideration of the non-severed claims. The severed issues proceeded to trial, and plaintiffs were granted judgment on many of their claims, while defendants succeeded on other claims. See, Knop v. Johnson, 667 F.Supp. 467 (W.D.Mich.1987). The Court recently entered its final order on the claims resolved at trial and those issues are on appeal. See, Knop v. Johnson, 685 F.Supp. 636 (W.D.Mich.1988).

During this entire period, counsel for the Knop plaintiffs continued to participate as amicus curiae in United States v. Michigan. After the Court approved the consent decree and state plan for compliance in that case, plaintiffs' counsel directed their efforts toward enforcing the decree's provisions, while continuing to request an enhanced status in that case. Plaintiffs have been allowed to conduct discovery in Knop v. Johnson on the non-severed claims, using the information gathered at compliance hearings in United States v. Michigan. See e.g., Knop v. Johnson Order of March 23, 1988. In August, 1987, I granted them leave to proceed in United States v. Michigan as litigating amicus curiae, conditioned upon their voluntary dismissal of the non-severed claims in Knop v. Johnson and their acceptance of the consent decree in United States v. Michigan as a full settlement of those claims. See, United States v. Michigan, 116 F.R.D. 655 (W.D.Mich.1987). On July 29, 1988, I approved the voluntary dismissal of the non-severed claims in Knop v. Johnson, dismissing those claims without prejudice, and indicating that the dismissal would be amended to dismiss the claims with prejudice if the Sixth Circuit affirmed my order granting the Knop plaintiffs litigating amicus curiae status in United States v. Michigan. While the Knop defendants did not actively oppose the dismissal of these claims, they have not consented to a settlement of these claims and continue to oppose the Court's order granting the plaintiffs' litigating status in United States v. Michigan.

Prior to my order of July 29, 1988, in Knop v. Johnson, plaintiffs' role in United States v. Michigan was confined to commenting upon the various compliance reports created in that case, participating in limited fashion in the compliance hearings, and making suggestions to the Court on how it ought to resolve compliance issues which have arisen. They were not allowed to file motions to modify or to enforce the consent decree or state plan in United States v. Michigan. As I indicated above, however, plaintiffs have conducted discovery in Knop on issues raised in United States v. Michigan and have presented the information gathered through that process to the Court at compliance hearings in United States v. Michigan. As litigating amicus curiae, the Knop plaintiffs will have the ability to file motions to modify or enforce the provisions of the consent decree and state plan.

The Court has consistently allowed the Knop plaintiffs to participate as amicus curiae in United States v. Michigan because the pendency of the latter action has, as a practical matter, impaired their ability to protect their interests in Knop. This is so, primarily, because the Court has deferred trial on the non-severed claims in Knop because it is already considering those claims through the implementation of the consent decree in United States v. Michigan. In addition, the Court has allowed the Knop plaintiffs to participate as amicus because they are the inmates in the consent decree institutions whose interests are sought to be protected by that decree. While I have never fully adopted the Knop plaintiffs' argument that the United States fails to adequately protect the inmates' interests, I have always acknowledged the need for them to have an independent advocate in the compliance proceedings in United States v. Michigan. While they have not always been successful in their efforts, see, e.g., United States v. Michigan, 680 F.Supp. 270 (W.D.Mich.1988) (declining to enjoin defendants' use of food loaf in all instances), it cannot be disputed that the Knop plaintiffs have admirably served their intended function in United States v. Michigan by bringing potential compliance issues to the Court's attention and by advocating the inmates' interests during compliance hearings.¹

Motion for Summary Judgment

Following their successful trial of the severed claims in Knop v. Johnson, the Knop plaintiffs filed their motion for attorneys fees in that case. In their amended petition, filed November 28, 1988, plaintiffs request $2,171,102.41 in fees and costs. A portion of the fees and costs requested are attributable to the Knop plaintiffs' participation as amicus in United States v. Michigan. Plaintiffs contend that they are entitled to fees and costs associated with United States v. Michigan because they are prevailing parties in Knop v. Johnson and their participation in United States v. Michigan served to further and protect their interests in the Knop litigation. They argue that participation in United States v. Michigan was "useful and of a type ordinarily necessary" to secure the final result obtained in Knop. Pennsylvania v. Delaware Valley Citizens' Council for Clean Air. 478 U.S. 546, 561, 106 S.Ct. 3088, 3096, 92 L.Ed.2d 439 (1986) (fees awarded in Clean Air Act litigation for time spent in administrative and judicial proceedings to enforce consent decree). Plaintiffs further argue that a prevailing party may recover fees for work performed in collateral proceedings as amicus where that work is necessary to protect the plaintiffs' interests in the central litigation. Thus, they do not seek attorneys fees for their participation in United States v. Michigan as "amicus qua amicus," rather, they seek fees because their participation in United States v. Michigan was necessary to protect their...