Luessenhop v. Clinton County, N.Y.

• Decision Date: 28 March 2008
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 1:04-CV-263 (RFT).
• Citation: 558 F.Supp.2d 247
• Parties: Elizabeth LUESSENHOP, Plaintiff, v. CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK, William Bingel, in his Individual Capacity and in his Official Capacity as Clinton County Administrator, and Janet Duprey, in her Individual Capacity and in her Official Capacity as Clinton County Treasurer, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

558 F.Supp.2d 247

Elizabeth LUESSENHOP, Plaintiff, v. CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK, William Bingel, in his Individual Capacity and in his Official Capacity as Clinton County Administrator, and Janet Duprey, in her Individual Capacity and in her Official Capacity as Clinton County Treasurer, Defendants.

Civ. No. 1:04-CV-263 (RFT).

United States District Court, N.D. New York.

March 28, 2008.

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Office of Mark A. Schneider, Mark A. Schneider, Esq., of counsel, Plattsburgh, NY, for Plaintiff.

Maynard, O'Connor, Smith & Catalinotto, Robert A. Rauseh, Esq., of counsel, Albany, NY, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER

RANDOLPH F. TREECE, United States Magistrate Judge.

This litigation has had a long history by virtue of a series of contested dispositive motions and an appeal to the Second Circuit. The matter has settled and the motion currently before the Court, hopefully, will be the epilogue to this litigation. Luessenhop has filed a Petition seeking the amount of $99,082.53 for attorney's fees and costs. Dkt. Nos. 77, Pl.'s Not. of Mot, dated Oct. 29, 2007, & 81, Pl.'s Reply.¹ The Clinton County Defendant vigorously opposes Luessenhop's Petition. Dkt. Nos. 79, Robert Rausch, Esq., Aff., dated Nov. 15, 2007, with Exs., & 80, Def.'s Mem. of Law. In defense of her Petition, Luessenhop files a Reply Affidavit and another Memorandum of Law. Dkt. Nos. 81, Mark Schneider, Esq., Aff., dated Nov. 20, 2007, & 81-2, Reply Mem. of Law. Indicative of this vigorously contested litigation is the Fee Application itself. The parties' respective counsel have battled recently over other fee applications in similar types of cases and this Application is no different. As done in the past practice, the litigators have poured significant energy into exhuming every conceivable factual and conceptual nuance, and maybe unnecessarily so, in supporting and opposing this Fee Petition, which will indubitably require us to plow enduringly through mounds of minutiae.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Normally, we would presume familiarity with the facts of this litigation. However, we are compelled to recite the procedural history to assign proper context for this Fee Application.

This entire litigation arises out of Clinton County's method of notifying Plaintiff of her delinquency in paying taxes due on her property prior to foreclosing on such property. After Luessenhop unsuccessfully pursued redress in the state courts,² on March 11, 2004, she commenced this federal action alleging that, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, County Defendants violated her Due Process rights by the manner in which they mailed Luessenhop a foreclosure notice. The parties were granted seven months to conduct discovery, and certain discovery issues culminated into a Motion which ultimately led to an Order. See generally Dkt. Nos. 16-18, & 19, Order, dated Oct. 19, 2004. On January 5, 2005, County Defendants filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, Dkt. No. 25, which Luessenhop opposed and filed a Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment, Dkt. No. 29. On July 20, 2005, this Court issued a Memorandum-Decision and Order, granting County Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, dismissing Luessenhop's Cross-Motion, and dismissing each of her claims. Dkt. No. 37. A Notice of Appeal was immediately filed to the Second Circuit.

On April 26, 2006, after the Appeal had been perfected, but before the Second Circuit had rendered a decision, the United States Supreme Court rendered a Decision in the matter of Jones v. Flowers, 547 U.S. 220, 126 S.Ct. 1708, 164 L.Ed.2d 415 (2006), which had a pivotal consequence on the Appeal. Based upon the "intervening Supreme Court case of Jones v. Flowers" the Second Circuit rendered a Decision determining that Clinton County's efforts to provide effectual foreclosure notice to Luessenhop were insufficient, and "reversed and remanded [the matter] for further proceedings not inconsistent with [its] opinion." Dkt. No. 43, 2d Circuit Mandate; Luessenhop v. Clinton County, 466 F.3d 259, 272 (2006).

Immediately upon the remand, the parties engaged in negotiations, but were unable to fully settle the matter. Their inability to resolve the case provoked the County Defendants to file a Motion to Dismiss based upon the individual Defendants' entitlement to qualified immunity and sought to dismiss both compensatory and punitive damages against all Defendants. Dkt. No. 48. On April 6, 2007, we issued a Memorandum-Decision and Order, granting in part and denying in part that Motion to Dismiss. Dkt. No. 56. We found that the individual Defendants, Bingel and Duprey, were entitled to qualified immunity and dismissed them from this action, and further found that punitive damages could not be pursued against a municipal defendant.

Not to be deterred by this dispositive event, Luessenhop filed a Motion to Amend her Complaint, essentially alleging that Clinton County continued to violate her rights by refusing to reconvey her property back to her after the Second Circuit Mandate. Dkt. No. 59. On July 9, 2007, this Court issued an Order granting in part and denying in part the Motion to Amend. Dkt. No. 67. Most of the requested relief was denied, but we granted Luessenhop permission to file a partial motion for summary judgment as to injunctive relief. We further noted that failing the filing of this partial motion for summary judgment, the case would be deemed trial ready.

Settlement negotiations renewed and on September 28, 2007, a Judgment dismissing the action by reason of settlement was filed. Dkt. No. 72. The crux of this settlement is that Luessenhop receives her property and the sum of $13,000. However, an agreement as to attorney's fees could not be reached. As a prelude to this Fee Petition, Luessenhop sought reconsideration of a previous order denying discovery of Defendants' counsel's hourly rate and hours expended in defending this action. Dkt. No. 74. This Court issued an Order that, inter alia, denied reconsideration and invariably noted our informed discretion to deny this type of discovery in order to avoid needless protraction of this litigation and our ken of the fact that the hourly rate of the losing party is simply and generally not relevant to determining prevailing rates. Dkt. No. 75, Order, dated Oct. 15, 2007.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Attorney Fees

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988, Luessenhop seeks attorney's fees and costs in the amount of $99,082.53. Dkt. Nos. 77-2, 78, & 81. In determining whether a civil rights plaintiff is entitled to attorney's fees and costs, the court must determine whether (1) the plaintiff is the prevailing party and (2) the fees requested are reasonable. Gatti v. Cmty. Action Agency of Greene County, Inc., 263 F.Supp.2d 496, 515 (N.D.N.Y.2003) (citing Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U.S. 103, 113 S.Ct. 566, 121 L.Ed.2d 494 (1992) & Pino v. Locascio, 101 F.3d 235, 237 (2d Cir.1996)).

I. Prevailing Party

Our first order of business is to determine if Luessenhop is entitled to attorney fees. In any action to enforce a § 1983 action, a court may, in its discretion, allow the prevailing party reasonable attorney's fees and cost. 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b). As instructed by the Supreme Court, reasonable attorney's fees should be awarded to a prevailing party unless special circumstances would render such an award unjust. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 429, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). A party is considered a prevailing party if they "receive actual relief on the merits of [her] claim," Gatti v. Cmty. Action Agency of Greene County, Inc., 263 F.Supp.2d at 515 (citing, inter alia, Gierlinger v. Gleason, 160 F.3d 858, 880 (2d Cir.1998)), or "if they succeed on any significant issue in litigation which achieves some of the benefit the parties sought in bringing the action," Wilder v. Bernstein, 965 F.2d 1196, 1201-02 (2d Cir.1992) (quoting Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. at 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933). As long as the relief either directly benefits the plaintiff or "materially alters the legal relationship between the parties by modifying the defendants behavior," even if it is nominal damages, the party qualifies as prevailing. Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U.S. at 111-12, 113 S.Ct. 566; Grant v. Martinez, 973 F.2d 96, 99 (2d Cir.1992) (citing Hewitt v. Helms, 482 U.S. 755, 760-61, 107 S.Ct. 2672, 96 L.Ed.2d 654 (1987) for the proposition that the "[r]elief ... need not be judicially decreed for a party to be eligible for a fee award"); United States v. Bd. of Educ. of Waterbury Conn., 605 F.2d 573 (2d Cir. 1979) (intervenors contributed to consent decree and were found to be prevailing party). It is therefore axiomatic that "[t]he fact that [plaintiff] prevailed through settlement rather than through litigation does not weaken her claim to fees." Maher v. Gagne, 448 U.S. 122, 129, 100 S.Ct. 2570, 65 L.Ed.2d 653 (1980) (quoted in Lyte v. Sara Lee Corp., 950 F.2d 101, 103-04 (2d Cir.1991)); Wilder v. Bernstein, 965 F.2d at 1202 (noting that a party is considered a prevailing party whether securing a formal judgment, settlement, or consent decree); Raishevich v. Foster, 247 F.3d 337, 345 (2d Cir.2001) (noting that a party prevails when achieving a result from settlement "of the same general type as the relief sought"). Here, Luessenhop settled this matter recovering her property from the legal clutches of Clinton County and the sum of $13,000.³ Dkt. No. 72, Judgment Dismissing the Action by Reason of Settlement. We conclude, a fortiori, that Luessenhop is a prevailing party and may be entitled to an award of attorney's fees and costs.

Clinton County argues that this Court should reject or significantly reduce any award of attorney's fees because the settlement was the result of a dynamic change of law in the middle of the litigation and it would be totally unfair to hold them accountable for Luessenhop's fees because of this shift. When confronted with a factual scenario...