Lipsett v. Blanco
| Decision Date | 07 April 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 91-2152,91-2152 |
| Parties | 59 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1498, 59 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 41,793, 61 USLW 2218, 77 Ed. Law Rep. 711 Annabelle LIPSETT, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. Gumersindo BLANCO, et al., Defendants, Appellants. . Heard |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
James D. Noel, III, with whom Ledesma, Palou & Miranda, Hato Rey, P.R., were on brief, for defendants, appellants.
Judith Berkan, Santurce, P.R., with whom Charles S. Hey Maestre, Rio Piedras, P.R., and Janice M. Gutierrez Lacourt, Hato Rey, P.R., were on brief, for plaintiff, appellee.
Before SELYA, Circuit Judge, CAMPBELL, Senior Circuit Judge, and BOYLE, * District Judge.
In what promises to be the last trek of a long safari of a case, we are asked to ascertain whether the district court abused its discretion in awarding $678,425.25 to the prevailing plaintiff under the Fees Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1988 (1988). Finding that the bestowal of attorneys' fees was overgenerous in certain respects, we reduce the award.
Because the merits of this case are no longer in issue and appellants concede that the plaintiff prevailed, we need not rehearse the facts. Rather, we offer an overview of what has transpired to date, referring the reader who may hunger for exegetic detail to the myriad of published opinions chronicling the snail's-pace progress of the underlying litigation. 1
Plaintiff-appellee Annabelle Lipsett entered the surgical residency program (Program) at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine (UPR) in July, 1980. She successfully completed her first year. Lipsett's second and third years in the Program were rife with controversy, culminating in the involuntary termination of her residency, effective June 30, 1983.
Lipsett promptly instituted a civil rights action in federal district court. She alleged, inter alia, gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment. The initial roster of defendants included the present appellants, Gumersindo Blanco, Jose R. Gonzalez-Inclan, and Pedro Juan Santiago-Borrero. 2 Several other persons and institutions were sued along the way, but over time, the number of defendants dwindled.
When Lipsett's case was finally tried, the jury found appellants liable for what had befallen to the tune of $525,000 in damages. The district court rejected appellants' post-trial motions for judgment n.o.v. or a new trial and, at the same time, denied appellee's post-trial motion for equitable relief. See Lipsett v. UPR, 759 F.Supp. 40 (D.P.R.1991). The court subsequently awarded Lipsett attorneys' fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Lipsett v. UPR, Civ. No. 83-1516 (D.P.R. Sept. 10, 1991) (Fees Op.). This appeal followed.
Ordinarily, the trial court's starting point in fee-shifting cases is to calculate a lodestar; that is, to determine the base amount of the fee to which the prevailing party is entitled by multiplying the number of hours productively expended by counsel times a reasonable hourly rate. See Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 1939, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). Typically, a court proceeds to compute the lodestar amount by ascertaining the time counsel actually spent on the case "and then subtract[ing] from that figure hours which were duplicative, unproductive, excessive, or otherwise unnecessary." Grendel's Den, Inc. v. Larkin, 749 F.2d 945, 950 (1st Cir.1984). The court then applies hourly rates to the constituent tasks, taking into account the "prevailing rates in the community for comparably qualified attorneys." United States v. Metropolitan Dist. Comm'n, 847 F.2d 12, 19 (1st Cir.1988); see also Grendel's Den, 749 F.2d at 955. Once established, the lodestar represents a presumptively reasonable fee, although it is subject to upward or downward adjustment in certain circumstances. See Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 897, 104 S.Ct. 1541, 1548, 79 L.Ed.2d 891 (1984).
On appeal, a fee award is reviewable only for mistake of law or abuse of discretion. See Foley v. City of Lowell, 948 F.2d 10, 18 (1st Cir.1991); Wojtkowski v. Cade, 725 F.2d 127, 130 (1st Cir.1984). The trial court's discretion in respect to fee awards is extremely broad. See, e.g., Foley, 948 F.2d at 19; Metropolitan Dist. Comm'n, 847 F.2d at 14. Because this is so, and because determination of the extent of a reasonable fee necessarily involves a series of judgment calls, an appellate court is far more likely to defer to the trial court in reviewing fee computations than in many other situations. See Rogers v. Okin, 821 F.2d 22, 30 (1st Cir.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1010, 108 S.Ct. 709, 98 L.Ed.2d 660 (1988).
In this instance, the district court set the lodestar amount at $552,439 and then increased the amount to $678,425.25. Appellants say that this award reflects a cavalcade of errors. Their plaints fit into two categories. The first category consists of a series of challenges to the lodestar computation itself. The second category consists of allegations that enhancement was unjustified. We consider each category in turn.
For purposes of discussion, we subdivide this cluster of grievances into four components.
1. Recordkeeping. Appellants single out certain time records and assail the manner in which Lipsett's attorneys maintained them. They argue that these records failed to satisfy the relevant legal standard because, in some instances, the entries were not inscribed at the same time the work was performed and, in other instances, the entries were too general.
It is important to note that the records at issue here are not subject to a single, uniform standard. Prior to 1985, we required that fee-seeking attorneys submit billing records sufficient to comprise a meaningful accounting of time expended. We warned that "bills which simply list a certain number of hours and lack such important specifics as dates and the nature of the work performed during the hour or hours in question should be refused." King v. Greenblatt, 560 F.2d 1024, 1027 (1st Cir.1977), cert. denied, 438 U.S. 916, 98 S.Ct. 3146, 57 L.Ed.2d 1161 (1978); accord Souza v. Southworth, 564 F.2d 609, 612 (1st Cir.1977). Under this standard, the records need not have been created contemporaneously with the lawyer's performance of the recorded task. See Grendel's Den, 749 F.2d at 951-52 ().
On December 5, 1984, we announced a new, less forgiving standard: "Henceforth, in cases involving fee applications for services rendered after the date of this opinion, the absence of detailed contemporaneous time records, except in extraordinary circumstances, will call for a substantial reduction in any award or, in egregious cases, disallowance." Id. at 952. Because the new rule was not meant to apply retroactively, Calhoun v. Acme Cleveland Corp., 801 F.2d 558, 560-61 (1st Cir.1986), the King standard applies to the pre-1985 billing records in this case and the Grendel's Den standard applies to the post-1984 billing records. 3
We find no abuse of discretion in the district court's acceptance of the records presented under the King regime. These submissions adequately limn the different tasks performed, the nature of the work, the time consumed, and the dates when effort was expended. In sum, the pre-1985 time records, overall, fell sufficiently within the general parameters of the King standard that the district court, in the exercise of its informed discretion, could appropriately credit them. While many of the records are not models of clarity, the King regime did not require either exhaustive detail or infinite precision.
The billing records submitted for tasks completed after 1984 are more of a mixed bag. Although most of those records pass muster under the heightened Grendel's Den standard, appellants have directed our attention to several entries containing only gauzy generalities. These entries--which total 81.2 hours 4--are so nebulous that they fail to "allow[ ] the paying party to dispute the accuracy of the records as well as the reasonableness of the time spent." Calhoun, 801 F.2d at 560. Accordingly, the entries should have been substantially discounted. See Grendel's Den, 749 F.2d at 952.
2. Overstaffing. Appellants also claim that the plaintiff overstaffed the case. Specifically, appellants claim that Marilucy Gonzalez, an attorney, and Nelly Rivera Marrero, a paralegal, were excess baggage at trial. Lipsett defends the presence of multiple lawyers, plus a paralegal, asserting that a larger-than-average legal team was desirable due to the complex nature of the case and the reams of evidence which needed to be tracked and analyzed. After examining these conflicting claims, the court below found the challenged staffing practices were reasonable. Although we think the district judge was guilty of hyperbole in characterizing the populous staffing as "unavoidable," we see no basis for disturbing his core finding that the staffing was "reasonable."
As a general matter, "the time for two or three lawyers in a courtroom or conference, when one would do, 'may obviously be discounted.' " Hart v. Bourque, 798 F.2d 519, 523 (1st Cir.1986) (quoting King, 560 F.2d at 1027); accord Grendel's Den, 749 F.2d at 953. Fee-shifting statutes are designed to "ensure effective access to the judicial process for persons with civil rights grievances," Hensley, 461 U.S. at 429, 103 S.Ct. at 1937 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted), not to serve as full employment or continuing education programs for lawyers and paralegals. A trial court should ordinarily greet a claim that several lawyers were required to perform a single set of tasks with healthy skepticism. See United Nuclear Corp. v. Cannon, 564 F.Supp....
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