Lucas v. White
| Citation | 63 F.Supp.2d 1046 |
| Decision Date | 14 April 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. C96-2905 TEH.,C96-2905 TEH. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of California |
| Parties | Robin LUCAS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. O. Ivan WHITE, et al., Defendants. |
Michael W. Bien, Donna Petrine, M.J. Tony Paikeday, Rosen, Bien & Asaro, Geri L. Green, Law Offices of Geri Lynn Green, San Francisco, CA, for plaintiffs.
John H. Hemann, U.S. Attorney's Office, San Francisco, CA, Nina S. Pelletier, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for defendants.
This matter comes before the Court on the plaintiffs' Motion for Interim Attorneys' Fees, Litigation Expenses and Costs under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2412(d) of the Equal Access to Justice Act ("EAJA"). Having carefully considered the parties' written and oral arguments, the supporting documentation before the Court, and the record herein, the Court grants plaintiffs' request for interim attorneys' fees and costs consistent with this Order.
I. BACKGROUND
Plaintiffs Robin Lucas, Valerie Mercadel, and Raquel Douthit, filed this action on August 13, 1996, seeking damages and injunctive relief from present and former officials of the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Prison ("BOP"). The complaint alleges that BOP officials violated their constitutional rights by subjecting them to a pattern of serious sexual assaults, sexual harassment and unwelcome sexual advances orchestrated and facilitated by prison officials. Amended Complaint ¶¶ 33-35, 61-63, 90-92, 127-165.
Specifically, plaintiffs allege the following: In August and September of 1995, they were each transferred to the J-2 Special Housing Unit ("SHU") at Federal Detention Center ("FDC") Pleasanton. FDC Pleasanton, located in Pleasanton, California, is generally used to confine male inmates, and at the time of plaintiffs' transfers, there were only a few women housed there among the otherwise all-male prisoner population. Amended Complaint ¶¶ 29-31, 57-59, 86-88. Correctional officers allowed the male prisoners to roam the corridors and harass plaintiffs through the food port or other opening in the cell doors. Male prisoners repeatedly propositioned plaintiffs for sex and one plaintiff was physically assaulted on the head. Amended Complaint ¶¶ 35, 63, 92. The correctional officers also gave male prisoners access to plaintiffs' cells without their consent in the middle of the night, which resulted in several sexual assaults. Amended Complaint ¶¶ 35, 63, 92. The plaintiffs were also sexually harassed by correctional officers. For example, on one occasion, an officer demanded that plaintiff Mercadel show him her breasts or genitals in order to receive a prison issued t-shirt. When she refused to do so, she was not given the t-shirt. Amended Complaint ¶ 67.
Plaintiffs repeatedly asked prison personnel to stop the above conduct and in late August 1995, Lucas made an official complaint regarding the practice of allowing male inmates into her cell in the middle of the night. Within days, her complaint became common knowledge among the male prisoners and correctional personnel; nonetheless, she was not transferred to another place of confinement. Amended Complaint ¶¶ 38, 40-43, 66. On or about September 22, 1995, Lucas' cell door was opened while she was asleep and three men entered her cell, and restrained and handcuffed her from behind. She was then brutally beaten, raped, and sodomized. Her life was also threatened and she was informed that the attack was in retaliation for her complaint. Amended Complaint ¶ 44. On or about November 17, 1995, after the intervention of their attorneys, plaintiffs were transferred to Alameda County Jail, Santa Rita. Federal authorities subsequently conducted a criminal investigation in which plaintiffs cooperated. Amended Complaint ¶¶ 48,83, 109. Plaintiffs further alleged that the above conduct, and the lack of appropriate training, policies, and procedures that allowed such conduct to occur, violated their rights under the First, Fourth, Fifth and Eighth amendments of the United States Constitution.
Shortly after the action was filed, the parties agreed to mediate the case through this court's ADR program. The mediator, Douglas R. Young, held five mediation sessions over several months, beginning in December 1996 and concluding in June 1997. On October 31, 1997, at the suggestion of defendants, plaintiffs filed an Amended Complaint adding a claim against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act in order to facilitate resolution of the claim for damages.1 Thereafter, the parties continued to negotiate the substantive and procedural terms of the settlement over the next several months. One factor that complicated the settlement of the matter was the passage of the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA"), 18 U.S.C. § 3626 et seq., and its provisions pertaining to consent decrees in particular. The parties ultimately entered into a private settlement agreement in February 1998.
The agreement requires the BOP to implement a wide range of reforms affecting every federal prison. The reforms involve changes to policies, procedures, and personnel training that are designed to reduce the risk to female prisoners of sexual assaults and harassment by correctional staff and male prisoners, and to provide appropriate programming, counseling, and services to female prisoners who are victims of sexual assault. Specifically, defendants agreed to the following reforms on a national level: (1) establishment of a national training program to prevent the sexual assault of female prisoners, (2) provision of psychological and medical services for victims of sexual assault, (3) revision and amendment of the program statement for victims of sexual assault, and (4) adoption of measures to protect victim confidentiality. The government also agreed to the comprehensive monitoring of these reforms.
At the local level, defendants agreed to make the following changes at FCI Pleasanton: (1) discontinue housing women prisoners in the J-2 SHU where plaintiffs were housed, (2) establish a confidential mechanism for inmates to report sexual assaults, and (3) establish a specialized training program at FCI Dublin to prevent further sexual assaults. Finally, defendants agreed to pay plaintiffs a total of $500,000 in damages. Pursuant to their contingency fee agreement with plaintiffs, counsel for plaintiffs received a fee of 25 percent of this recovery, or $125,000. Bien Decl. ¶ 47. Since finalization of the settlement, plaintiffs' counsel have been monitoring compliance with the agreement. As part of this function, plaintiffs' counsel review progress reports and drafts of new policies, procedures, and training materials. Bien Decl. ¶ 28 and Exh. C.
On November 3, 1998, plaintiffs filed the instant motion seeking interim fees under the EAJA for time expended on the claims for injunctive relief against BOP officials in their official capacity. Ramon by Ramon v. Soto, 916 F.2d 1377, 1382-83 (9th Cir.1989) (). They do not seek fees for any time expended on their claim for damages. Specifically, plaintiffs seek the following amounts (after billing judgment) for time and expenses relating to the claims for injunctive relief:
II. DISCUSSION
Under the EAJA, prevailing plaintiffs are entitled to recover their attorneys' fees and costs unless the government's position was substantially justified, special circumstances would make an award unjust, or the application for fees is not timely filed. 28 U.S.C. §§ 2412(d)(1)(A), (1)(B); Commissioner, I.N.S. v. Jean, 496 U.S. 154, 158, 110 S.Ct. 2316, 2319, 110 L.Ed.2d 134 (1990); Oregon Natural Resources Council v. Madigan, 980 F.2d 1330, 1331 (9th Cir.1992); Thomas v. Peterson, 841 F.2d 332, 335 (9th Cir.1988) (). Once a court finds that a party is entitled to attorneys' fees, it must then determine a reasonable fee. This latter inquiry focuses on the reasonable number of hours expended and the appropriate hourly rate. We first address plaintiffs' entitlement to fees, and then the issue of a reasonable fee.
(1) Sovereign Immunity
Defendants argue that because the United States has not waived its sovereign immunity for fee awards in tort actions, and this action sounds in tort, that plaintiffs' application for fees is barred by sovereign immunity. See 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A)2; Campbell v. United States, 835 F.2d 193, 195-96 (9th Cir.1987) ().
This action sounds in tort, defendants contend, because certain of the factual allegations in the complaint implicate tortious conduct and plaintiffs sought money damages in compensation. We are not persuaded, however, that a plaintiff is automatically ineligible for fees under the exception any time the factual allegations involve conduct that could be tortious and the complaint includes a claim for damages. The case of Ramon by Ramon v. Soto, 916 F.2d 1377 (9th Cir.1989), is instructive on this point. There, the plaintiffs, a class of students at Phoenix Indian...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Pierce v. Cnty. of Orange
...legal research and informal discovery relevant to developing the theory of the case is properly recoverable[.]” Lucas v. White, 63 F.Supp.2d 1046, 1058 (N.D.Cal.1999). Indeed, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 requires some pre-complaint investigation to ensure claims are “warranted by exi......
-
Kane v. Winn
...harassment and abuse. Cason, 231 F.3d at 779 nn. 3-4. The Federal Bureau of Prisons' recent $500,000 settlement in Lucas v. White, 63 F.Supp.2d 1046 (N.D.Cal.1999), provides another example. In that case, three female inmates housed in the Federal Detention Center at Pleasanton, California ......
-
Orantes-hernandez v. Holder
...Love, 924 F.2d at 1495. “Th[e] [special circumstances] provision, [moreover,] should only be invoked with caution.” Lucas v. White, 63 F.Supp.2d 1046, 1056 (N.D.Cal.1999). Considering the “special circumstances” exception to an award of fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, the Ninth Circuit has cau......
-
Cotton v. City of Eureka
...the area of complex, institutional prison reform litigation’ so as to merit exceptional fees.” Id. at 895 (quoting Lucas v. White, 63 F.Supp.2d 1046, 1061–62 (N.D.Cal.1999)). Finally, the court noted that the same rates previously had been awarded for those attorneys' work in other prison l......