Luciano v. Olsten Corp.
| Decision Date | 21 March 1997 |
| Docket Number | D,1153,Nos. 838,s. 838 |
| Citation | 109 F.3d 111 |
| Parties | 73 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1571, 70 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 44,573 Mary Ann LUCIANO, Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross Appellee, v. The OLSTEN CORPORATION; Frank N. Liguori; Gordon J. Bingham; Martin Gelerman, Defendants-Appellees-Cross-Appellants. ockets 96-7814, 96-7816. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Leon Friedman, New York City (Sharyn Grobman, on the brief), for Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross-Appellee.
Gary D. Friedman, Mayer, Brown & Platt, New York City (Philip A. Lacovara, Mayer, Brown & Platt, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees-Cross-Appellants.
Anne Golden, New York City (Matthew D. Brinckerhoff, on the brief), for Amicus Curiae National Employment Lawyers Association/New York.
Before: OAKES, ALTIMARI and PARKER, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Spatt, J.), awarding attorney's fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k) in a gender-based employment discrimination action. Plaintiff-appellant-cross-appellee Mary Ann Luciano, the prevailing party in this action to whom fees were awarded, contends principally that the district court erred in calculating a fee based on the prevailing rates charged by competent employment discrimination lawyers in the Eastern District, rather than the higher prevailing rates charged in the Southern District. In addition, Luciano challenges the district court's decision to reduce the total number of compensable hours. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
Luciano sued her employer defendant-appellee-cross-appellant The Olsten Corporation ("Olsten"), and three of its executive officers, defendants-appellants Frank N. Liguori, Gordon J. Bingham and Martin Gelerman (together with Olsten, hereafter collectively "defendants" or the "Company" or "Olsten"), under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law § 290 et seq., alleging that the Company failed to grant her a promised promotion to vice president and subsequently terminated her because of her gender. The events underlying this case are discussed in the companion opinion, see Luciano v. Olsten Corp., --- F.3d ---- (2d Cir.1997), issued concurrently with this opinion and with which familiarity is presumed. We set forth only the facts relevant to this appeal.
On November 9, 1995, following a month-long trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Luciano and awarded her $150,714 in compensatory damages, $11,400 in emotional distress damages, $17,713 for other expenses, plus $5,000,002 in punitive damages. Finding that the verdict with regard to liability and damages was supported by the evidence, the district court: (1) denied the defendants' motion for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(b) or a new trial pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(a); (2) denied the defendants' motion to vacate the jury's punitive damage award, but reduced the sum to the statutory cap of $300,000 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(b)(3)(D); and (3) granted Luciano's motion for prejudgment interest.
Following the verdict, which verdict and subsequent judgment we affirm today, Luciano submitted an application for attorneys' fees in the amount of $483,189.25 and costs in the amount of $46,853.01, pursuant to § 42 U.S.C. 2000e5(k). The request for attorneys' fees was based on hourly rates of $325 for lead counsel, Janice Goodman, $175 for a fifth-year associate, Loren Gesinsky, and $75 for a third-year law student, Jill Raymond. In her affidavit for fees, Goodman submitted that: (1) she has litigated employment discrimination cases for over twenty-four years; (2) she has lectured and written extensively in the field of employment discrimination and is recognized as a leader in her field; (3) ordinarily, she takes employment discrimination cases on a contingency basis; (4) she does not have a regular billing rate for litigation of Title VII, ADEA and ADA claims because none of the clients she represents are able to afford attorneys such as herself, and therefore relies primarily on court awarded fees; and (5) the hourly rate that she sought was the fair market value for her services. In addition, Luciano submitted affidavits from other civil rights practitioners who stated that $325 per hour rate is a reasonable market rate for persons of Goodman's skills and experience. Gesinsky's affidavit stated that his hourly billing rate as an associate at Goodman's firm was $175 per hour.
Luciano submitted time records seeking to recover for 755.30 hours expended by Goodman, 1,321.91 hours expended by Gesinsky, and 85.00 hours expended by Raymond. In addition, Luciano sought an upward adjustment of her attorneys' fees based on alleged "lost opportunities," the results obtained, the contingency of her fee, and the "undesirability" of the case.
The defendants objected to the fee request on the grounds that: (1) Luciano requested excessive hourly rates; (2) Luciano sought to recover for an excessive number of hours; (3) the time entries showing hours expended were vague and inadequately documented; (4) Luciano sought to recover for hours that were not compensable, or compensable at less than the full hourly rate, such as hours spent traveling or on clerical tasks; and (5) Luciano was not entitled to an upward adjustment of the fee award.
In considering Luciano's fee application, the district court concluded that having prevailed on claims under Title VII and the New York Human Rights Law, Luciano was entitled to attorneys' fees and costs, and thus awarded her $283,108.28 in attorneys' fees and $45,827.76 in costs. The district court reduced the hourly rates and number of hours in Luciano's fee request, and declined to upwardly adjust the fee award. The district court based its decision on its findings that the market rates in the prevailing community for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable skill, experience, and reputation, were as follows: $200 for partners, $135 for associates, and $50 for law student/paralegals. The district court then exercised its discretion to upwardly adjust Goodman's rate to $225 per hour "based on the difficulty of the issues presented, the years of experience and expertise of the plaintiff's attorney in the field of employment law, and the extent of the success achieved." The district court declined, however, to further enhance the fee award "because the factors that Ms. Goodman argues will support an upward adjustment of her hourly rate have been considered in determining the lodestar figure."
Concluding that the number of hours reasonably expended on the case was compounded by the "uncooperative or obstructive conduct" of the attorneys, the district Luciano moved for reconsideration concerning only the issue of the appropriate hourly rates for Goodman and Gesinsky, but the district court denied the motion. Luciano now appeals the attorneys' fee award. Olsten now cross-appeals to prevent Luciano from enforcing the attorneys' fees judgment, contending that if it prevails in its appeal from the underlying judgment, the award of attorneys' fees at issue in the present cross-appeal would necessarily have to be vacated. Because we have affirmed the underlying judgment, we need not reach the merits of Olsten's cross-appeal.
court reduced the number of hours for which Luciano sought compensation by 15%, its estimation of her attorneys' share of the "excessive time" expended during the case. In addition, the district court reduced compensation for specific tasks by: (1) awarding fees for travel time at half of the reasonable hourly rates for Goodman and Gesinsky; (2) awarding fees for time spent by Gesinsky at trial at half of his lodestar hourly rate; and (3) awarding fees for time Gesinsky spent on "clerical" work at $50 per hour, the hourly rate for paralegal work.
Arguing that her Manhattan-based counsel should be compensated at their regular New York City billing rates, Luciano argues principally that the district court: (1) erred in awarding a fee based on the prevailing hourly rates charged by competent employment discrimination lawyers in the Eastern District, rather than the higher prevailing rates charged in the Southern District, and (2) improperly reduced the compensable hours. Luciano's arguments are unpersuasive.
The statute governing employment discrimination actions provides in pertinent part:
In any action or proceeding under this subchapter the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the Commission or the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee ... as part of the costs, and the Commission and the United States shall be liable for costs the same as a private person.
42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). The district court is given broad discretion in granting a fee award and assessing a reasonable fee under the circumstances of the case. See, e.g., Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 437, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 1941, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). Thus, absent an abuse of discretion or an error of law, we will not disturb the district court's calculation of reasonable attorney's fees. See Sands v. Runyon, 28 F.3d 1323, 1333 (2d Cir.1994).
In determining reasonable attorney's fees, the district court must calculate a "lodestar" figure based upon the number of hours reasonably expended by counsel on the litigation multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate. Blanchard v. Bergeron, 489 U.S. 87, 94, 109 S.Ct. 939, 944-45, 103 L.Ed.2d 67 (1989); see Cruz v. Local Union No. 3 of the Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 34 F.3d 1148, 1159 (2d Cir.1994). The "lodestar" figure should be "in line with those [rates] prevailing in the community for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable skill,...
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