Parker v. Matthews

• Citation: 411 F. Supp. 1059
• Decision Date: 01 April 1976
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 75-0812.
• Parties: Dorothy C. PARKER, Plaintiff, v. F. David MATTHEWS, Secretary, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

411 F. Supp. 1059

Dorothy C. PARKER, Plaintiff, v. F. David MATTHEWS, Secretary, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 75-0812.

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

April 1, 1976.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Linda R. Singer, Jeffrey L. Squires, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.

Peter C. Schaumber, Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., for defendant.

Judith K. Munger, Washington, D. C., for amicus curiae, Women's Legal Defense Fund.

John L. Burke, Jr., Washington, D. C., for amicus curiae, The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CHARLES R. RICHEY, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on plaintiff's motion for attorneys' fees, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). This Court finds that plaintiff is entitled to an award of reasonable attorneys' fees for the reasons set forth below.

I. BACKGROUND

On February 15, 1973, plaintiff, Dorothy Parker, filed an administrative complaint with the Office of Education of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), alleging discrimination due to her race and sex and seeking an immediate promotion from her position as a GS-9. An investigation was conducted and, on September 7, 1973, the investigative report concluded that the plaintiff had been discriminated against and recommended that plaintiff be promoted to a GS-13. In the spring of 1974, HEW implemented part of the investigative report by promoting plaintiff to a GS-11 with assurances that she would soon be promoted to a GS-14 as the original investigative report had recommended. In the spring of 1975, HEW issued its final determination: that it would disregard the investigative report as well as the recommendation of the Office of Education's Equal Employment Opportunity Staff Officer. Thereafter, plaintiff filed the instant law suit.

In defendant's answer filed July 22, 1975, all allegations of the complaint were denied. Less than two months later, on September 18, 1975, HEW issued a formal decision to the effect that plaintiff had been discriminated against on the basis of race and sex, and that she should be retroactively promoted to GS-13, with appropriate back pay.

On November 14, 1975, this Court entered an order approving the settlement of the instant litigation, which reserved the question of attorneys' fees for judicial decision.

II. THE COURT FINDS THAT PLAINTIFF, WHO HAS ENTERED INTO A SETTLEMENT OF HER TITLE VII CLAIM, IS A "PREVAILING PARTY" WITHIN THE MEANING OF THAT TERM AS USED IN 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k), AND IS THEREFORE ENTITLED TO REASONABLE ATTORNEYS' FEES AND EXPENSES.

Plaintiff, who has entered into a settlement as to her Title VII claim, seeks attorneys' fees as a "prevailing party" in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). Defendant, while having agreed to the settlement, asserts that plaintiff is not the prevailing party, since the case was disposed of by settlement rather than by a judgment after a full adjudication on the merits. In view of defendant's argument, the question presented is whether a plaintiff who enters into a settlement may still be a "prevailing party" within the meaning of that term as used in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k).

Section 2000e-5(k) limits the award of attorneys' fees to a "prevailing party":

"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 party."

There is, however, no definition of "prevailing party" in the statute, nor is there an explanation of the term in the legislative history of the Act. See 2 U.S.Cong. & Adm.News p. 2355 (1965). The Court must, therefore, look to the plain meaning of the language of the statute.

The defendant maintains that the plain meaning of "prevailing party" clearly subsumes the concept of a favorable judicial determination, of the merits of the action. Under defendant's view attorneys' fees could not be awarded where a settlement resolves the litigation. This Court does not agree that the plain meaning of "prevailing party" is limited to plaintiffs who have obtained a favorable judgment after a full adjudication of the merits.

If the Court were to adopt defendant's suggested meaning plaintiffs would be forced to try every case for the purpose of insuring an award of attorneys' fees. This result makes defendant's assertion untenable, since any suggested interpretation of the language of the statute which would lead to an absurd or futile result, or which would not further or be consonant with the purpose of the act, must be rejected. United States v. American Trucking Associations, Inc., 310 U.S. 534, 543, 60 S.Ct. 1059, 1063, 84 L.Ed. 1345, 1351 (1940); Organized Migrants in Community Action, Inc., v. Brennan, 520 F.2d 1161 (D.C.Cir. 1975); International Telephone & Telegraph Corp. v. General Telephone & Electronics Corp., 518 F.2d 913 (9th Cir. 1975).

Certainly it would not be reasonable to interpret the term "prevailing party" so as to discourage settlement of cases, thereby making the interpretation contravene the generally-favored policy of the law to encourage settlement of litigation. Moreover, requiring full litigation in all cases cannot be the criterion for furthering the purpose of the Civil Rights Act.

The policy considerations underlying an award of attorneys' fees in civil rights actions are clear. In civil rights litigation, individual litigants assume the position of "private attorneys general"¹ vindicating a congressional policy against discrimination. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, it was understood "that the Nation would have to rely in part upon private litigation as a means of securing broad compliance with the law." Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, 390 U.S. 400, 401, 88 S.Ct. 964, 966, 19 L.Ed.2d 1263, 1265 (1968). It is only through attorneys' fees provisions that litigants can be assured of the competent counsel they need for the effective enforcement of their right not to be discriminated against. Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, supra, 390 U.S. at 402, 88 S.Ct. at 966, 19 L.Ed.2d at 1265, lays out the important rationale for the provision on attorneys' fees:

"If successful plaintiffs were routinely forced to bear their own attorneys' fees, few aggrieved parties would be in a position to advance the public interest by invoking the injunctive powers of the federal courts. Congress therefore enacted the provision for counsel fees — not simply to penalize litigants who deliberately advance arguments they know to be untenable but, more broadly, to encourage individuals injured by racial discrimination to seek judicial relief under Title II."

In Title VII actions, the Piggie Park rationale has been frequently reiterated. Smith v. Kleindienst, 8 F.E.P. 753 (D. D.C. June 24, 1975) aff'd sub nom. Smith v. Levi, 527 F.2d 853 (D.C.Cir. 1975); Wade v. Mississippi Co-op Extension Service, 378 F.Supp. 1251 (N.D.Miss. 1974); Clark v. American Marine Corp., 320 F.Supp. 709 (E.D.La.1970), aff'd 437 F.2d 959 (5th Cir. 1971). Considering this policy, it would be inconsistent to deny an award of attorneys' fees to those plaintiffs merely because they choose to settle rather than obtain a final judicial determination.

Nor does this Court believe that the term "prevailing party" necessarily connotes a final judicial determination. Blacks' Law Dictionary (rev. 4th ed. 1968, p. 1352), supplies the following definition:

"That one of the parties to a suit who successfully prosecutes the action or successfully defends against it, prevailing on the main issue, even though not to the extent of his original contention. citations omitted.

"To be such a prevailing party does not depend upon the degree of success at different stages of the suit, but whether, at the end of the suit, or other proceeding, the party who has made a claim against the other, had successfully maintained it." citations omitted emphasis supplied.

According to this definition which this Court adopts, the operative factor is success, not at which stage or how that success is achieved, i. e. trial or settlement. The same conclusion has been reached by other courts when considering other statutory schemes permitting attorneys' fees and costs to the "prevailing party."

While the definition of "prevailing party" has ofttimes been expressed as a party who obtains a favorable judgment,² this appears to have been a matter of circumstance rather than an intentional limitation. When directly presented with the question whether a statute providing for the recovery of fees to the "prevailing party" encompassed circumstances less than a final judgment, courts have found it logical and reasonable to extend the definition of "prevailing party" beyond the restrictive view taken by the defendant herein. In Corcoran v. Columbia Broadcasting System, 121 F.2d 575 (9th Cir. 1941), which dealt with the Copyright Act's provision providing for "an award to the prevailing party a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs," 17 U.S.C. § 116, the Court held that the "authority given is not in terms limited to the allowance of fees to a party who prevails only after a trial on the merits." Id. at 576.³ See also Hart v. Wolff, 489 P.2d 114, 119 (Alaska 1971). In one notable case, wherein a party had obtained a final judgment and sought fees under a statute with language similar to the one herein, a court refused to find the party the "prevailing party" pointing out that the other party had at all times admitted liability and had communicated this fact to its adversary before the complaint was filed; the only issue tried was the one admitted; and, that the successful party merely recovered an amount tendered before trial. McCrary v. New York Life Ins. Co., 84 F.2d 790, 795 (8th Cir. 1936). The court...