Lund v. Affleck

• Decision Date: 13 December 1977
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 74-36,74-69 and 4529.
• Citation: 442 F. Supp. 1109
• Parties: Domenic LUND v. John J. AFFLECK. Doris PALMIERI et al. v. John J. AFFLECK et al. INMATES OF the BOYS' TRAINING SCHOOL v. Bradford E. SOUTHWORTH et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Rhode Island

442 F. Supp. 1109

Domenic LUND v. John J. AFFLECK.

Doris PALMIERI et al. v. John J. AFFLECK et al.

INMATES OF the BOYS' TRAINING SCHOOL v. Bradford E. SOUTHWORTH et al.

Civ. A. Nos. 74-36, 74-69 and 4529.

United States District Court, D. Rhode Island.

December 13, 1977.

William Rutzick, Alden C. Harrington, Rhode Island Legal Services, Providence, R.I., for plaintiffs in 74-36 and 74-69.

J. Peter Doherty, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., State of R.I., Providence, R.I., for defendants.

Jean A. Musiker, Rhode Island Legal Services, Providence, R.I., for plaintiffs in 4529.

Forest Avila, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Providence, R.I., for defendant in 4529.

OPINION

PETTINE, Chief Judge.

The plaintiffs prevailed and have moved for an award of attorneys' fees in these three 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1970) class actions for declaratory and/or injunctive relief a) by needy unwed mothers and children of Rhode Island to receive welfare benefits when a man, not married to the mother, resided in the household but did not contribute to the support of the children, Palmieri v. Affleck, C.A. No. 74-69 (D.R.I. Jan. 7, 1975); b) to establish the right of a pregnant minor child to receive welfare benefits in the same manner as a pregnant adult, Lund v. Affleck, 388 F.Supp. 137 (D.R.I. 1975); c) to enjoin the defendants from not complying with the terms of Consent Decrees entered in 1973 dealing with the care and treatment of incarcerated juveniles, Inmates of the Boys' Training School v. Southworth, C.A. No. 4529 (D.R.I. Consent Decree entered 1973). All three cases are consolidated in this Opinion for the purpose of determining the plaintiffs' rights to an award of attorneys' fees. In all three cases, plaintiffs were represented by Rhode Island Legal Services.

In Lund, the costs assessed as part of the judgment included an award of attorneys' fees. The defendants only appealed the attorneys' fee award; the appeal was remanded by the First Circuit Court of Appeals for further consideration in light of Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975). Since the remand, Congress has passed the Civil Rights Attorneys' Fees Awards Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C.A. § 1988 (Supp. December 1976) ("Act"). This statute authorizes the Court, in its discretion, to grant the prevailing party, other than the United States, reasonable attorneys' fees as part of the litigation costs in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

In opposition to the award of any fees the defendants present a three-pronged argument:

(1) the Act does not authorize in any case an award of fees to a legal services program (2) if it does, then such an award cannot be made when the judgment in a § 1983 action is founded on a nonconstitutional claim;

(3) if an award is proper than the hourly rate at which the fees are to be assessed should be "restricted".

The Court rejects each of the defendants' arguments.

Conclusions of Law A legal services organization may recover fees pursuant to the Civil Rights Attorneys' Fees Awards Act of 1976.

The quintessence of the defendants' argument is that it is "inconsistent" with the purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1988 to award fees to federally funded public service organizations since their poor clients are no longer discouraged from vindicating violation of their civil rights by prohibitive attorneys' fees. Unquestionably, in the past, economic barriers prevented indigents from gaining full access to the courts. This inequality in the pragmatic administration of justice was met by the government through the creation of federally funded legal service programs such as the Rhode Island Legal Services. The contribution the young attorneys staffing these offices have made in protecting the rights of groups of less than fully enfranchised persons in conflict with majoritarian tendencies of oppression is a remarkable record of achievement.¹ In the process they have awakened the consciousness of the American people and have added an attractive stimulus to private attorneys to enter a fertile field and be paid for their efforts. Following enervation of rights to attorneys' fees by decisional law, see Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., supra, the Congress, through the enactment of section 1988, put to rest any doubts concerning entitlement of fees by private lawyers. The legislative purpose is clear — to encourage compliance with statutes and constitutional mandates. Although both the federally funded organizations and private counsel accomplish the same end, defendants suggest that Congress needed only to codify the right to fees of private attorneys to provide the necessary impetus to the legal community to accomplish its legislative purpose since legal aid lawyers already receive federal funds.

To be sure the litigant pays no fee; nonetheless, the legal aid offices incur costs both in money and expenditure of human resources. Both of these costs might otherwise be used to represent the poor in personal litigation, vitally important to the litigant although without civil rights dimensions. As plaintiffs' counsel argues, "Rhode Island Legal Services cannot represent all the poor people in the state in all their major legal undertakings . . .. If a major civil rights welfare case is undertaken, many individuals with serious legal problems will go unrepresented." The force of this position cannot be disputed. The myriad of government service agencies are not enclaves with unlimited resources, immune from budgetary strictures with concomitant allocation of services. Priorities must be established that may mandate the loss of services in certain areas when complex, time consuming civil rights litigation is undertaken. The award of attorneys' fees can avoid such loss and thus stimulate continued representation of litigants in civil rights actions.

In addition, many other valid reasons that justify an award of attorneys' fees to private counsel are equally applicable to legal aid organizations. These reasons include: "deterring illegal conduct by the losing party and other possible violators"; the "private enforcement pattern existing in numerous federal statutes mandating fee awards"; "to induce behavior which courts and legislatures find desirable"; "punishing the losing party for misconduct."²

Looking to the statute itself we find its literal reading does not differentiate between plaintiffs according to whether they are represented by a legal services organization or a private attorney.³ In fact, the legislative history specifically indicates that an organization can qualify for attorneys' fees. In its discussion of the "third principal element of the bill — entitlement of the prevailing party to `reasonable' counsel fees . . .," the legislature noted that, "Similarly a prevailing party is entitled to counsel fees even if represented by an organization, or if the party is itself an organization." See Incarcerated Men of Allen County Jail v. Fair, 507 F.2d 281 (6th Cir. 1974); Torres v. Sachs, 69 F.R.D. 343 (S.D. N.Y.1975), aff'd, 538 F.2d 10 (2d Cir. 1976); Fairley v. Patterson, 493 F.2d 598 (5th Cir. 1974).

In Incarcerated Men of Allen County Jail, supra, the Sixth Circuit answered affirmatively the direct question whether a legal service organization, partially funded through federal grants, could be awarded a fee for representing inmates in a civil rights class action to redress deprivation of alleged constitutional rights:

The fact that appellees' counsel was a legal services organization, partially supported by public funds, is irrelevant in determining whether an award is proper. Legal services organizations do not have unlimited resources to devote to the public interest, and must confine their representation of indigents to the boundaries of their budget. An attorney-fees' award serves its purpose — to prevent worthy claimants from being silenced or stifled because of a lack of legal resources — whether it goes to private or "public" counsel. (Citations omitted). 507 F.2d at 286.

In accord, we conclude that an award of attorneys' fees to Rhode Island Legal Services, a federally funded organization, is appropriate.

Attorneys' fees may be recovered pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988, when claims are made under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the judgment is founded on a claim other than the constitutional claim.

The Lund and Palmieri cases were decided by this Court based on a statutory interpretation of the Social Security Act; the Court found the state law in question was inconsistent with the federal law and had to yield to the conflicting federal law by virtue of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Because the holding rested on statutory interpretation and not a constitutional violation, defendants argue a fee award is improper under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Defendants contend that plaintiffs merely alleged "a constitutional claim derived from the same factual situation", (Defendants' brief at p. 4.) that did not meet the test of "substantiality" set forth in Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 94 S.Ct. 1372, 39 L.Ed.2d 577 (1974) nor was the statutory claim derived from a "common nucleus of operative fact". United Mine Workers v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 725, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966). These two tests control whether a federal court can assume pendent jurisdiction over non-constitutional federal claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1343 (1970) (Hagans) and over state claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (1970) (Gibbs). Although these tests can be appropriately transferred from their original context of pendent jurisdiction to attorneys' fees, the tests must be applied in light of the congressional purpose behind the Fees Act. Fortunately, Congress anticipated the very issue at bar. Sensitive to the jurisprudential policy of avoiding constitutional decisions, the House Report suggested that fees can be awarded to plaintiffs who prevail on non-constitutional issues if the constitutional issue is "substantial" and the...