Riddell v. National Democratic Party

• Decision Date: 18 August 1980
• Docket Number: No. 78-2839,78-2839
• Citation: 624 F.2d 539
• Parties: Tom H. RIDDELL, Jr. et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. The NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY et al., Defendants-Appellants, v. Honorable William L. WALLER, Governor of the State of Mississippi, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 539

624 F.2d 539

Tom H. RIDDELL, Jr. et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. The NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY et al., Defendants-Appellants, v. Honorable William L. WALLER, Governor of the State of

Mississippi, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 78-2839.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Aug. 18, 1980.

Neil Bradley, Laughlin McDonald, Atlanta, Ga., Frank R. Parker, Jackson, Miss., for defendants-appellants.

Stennett, Wilkinson & Ward, James A. Peden, Jr., Gene A. Wilkinson, Jackson, Miss., for Tom H. Riddell, et al.

Peter M. Stockett, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, Miss., for William Waller and other state officials.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Before THORNBERRY, ANDERSON and THOMAS A. CLARK, Circuit Judges.

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge:

In this case we must decide whether the district court abused its discretion in denying attorneys' fees to the prevailing party in a suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976). Because the special circumstances recited by the district court do not justify the denial of attorneys' fees in this case, we reverse the judgment and remand the case to the court below.

I. Facts and Proceedings.

This is the second appeal to our court in this litigation to determine which group should have the right to call itself the "Democratic Party of the State of Mississippi." Under Miss.Code Ann. § 23-1-5 (1972), each political party in the state is required to register its name and officers with the secretary of state. Such registration gives the party the exclusive right to its name; no other party can use another's registered name or part thereof.

The plaintiffs in this suit registered in 1950 as the "Democratic Party of the State of Mississippi." Throughout the litigation this group is also known as the "Regulars." Their rivals for use of the Democratic Party name are the "Loyalists," a group formed from the Freedom Democratic Party, who tried unsuccessfully to unseat the Regulars' Mississippi delegation to the 1964 Democratic National Convention. At the 1968 national convention the Loyalists were more successful. The national party seated them instead of the Regulars as the delegation from Mississippi, and recognized the Loyalists as the representatives of the national party in Mississippi. In early 1972 the national party again called the Loyalists instead of the Regulars to submit delegates for the upcoming national convention.

In April 1972 Riddell and various other officers, delegates, and electors from the Regular group filed suit individually and as representatives of the state Democratic Party under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and other statutes to enjoin various Loyalist officers from using the Democratic Party name, and to enjoin the National Democratic Party from recognizing the Loyalists instead of the Regulars. The complaint also asked for an award of attorneys' fees and costs against the defendants. The Loyalists responded by filing a cross-claim against the National Democratic Party to enjoin them from recognizing the Regulars because the Regulars had systematically discriminated against blacks. The Loyalists filed a counterclaim against the Regulars under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to declare the state exclusive registration statute unconstitutional as an impermissible restriction on first amendment associational freedoms. In this counterclaim the Loyalists also joined as party defendants the governor, secretary of state, and attorney general charged with enforcing the challenged statute.

The district court held that the Regulars constituted the official, legal "Democratic Party of the State of Mississippi," and that the Loyalists had no legal existence. The court observed that the national party's refusal to seat the Regulars at the 1968 national convention deprived the vast majority of Mississippi Democrats a voice in the national election. The court ordered the national party to provide a full hearing for the Regulars' claim to be recognized at the 1972 national convention. The court dismissed the Loyalists' crossclaim and counterclaims. After a full hearing, the national party still decided to recognize the Loyalists instead of the Regulars. The district court denied the Regulars' motion for a further injunction against the national party, and the Regulars appealed. The Loyalists and national party also appealed to declare the state exclusive registration statute unconstitutional.

On appeal in 1975, we held that the Mississippi exclusive party registration statute impermissibly deprived the Loyalists of important first amendment rights. Riddell v. National Democratic Party, 508 F.2d 770 (5th Cir. 1975). We reversed and remanded the judgment of the district court granting the Regulars exclusive rights to the Democratic Party name in Mississippi.

After remand in April 1975, the Regulars and Loyalists increased their informal negotiations, begun in 1974, about unifying the two political factions as one party. These negotiations proceeded tentatively and gradually through 1976, when both the Regulars and Loyalists cooperated together for the national election campaign. During the period of this litigation, the Regulars campaigned separately to raise funds necessary to pay attorneys' fees for their counsel who had pressed the Regulars' claim for the exclusive use of the Democratic Party name.

In May 1977 leaders from both the Regular and Loyalist factions met for a settlement conference. At the conference the two factions agreed to merge into a single unified party. As co-chairman of the unified party the groups chose Tom Riddell, former chairman of the Regulars, and Aaron Henry, former chairman of the Loyalists. The Regulars donated $14,000 to the unified party; some of these funds paid debts incurred by the Loyalists. The parties submitted to the district court an agreed order of dismissal approved and signed by counsel for the Regulars, Loyalists, National Democratic Party, and the state attorney general. This document declared that the litigated dispute between the parties had become moot as a result of the unification, although the agreed order of dismissal expressly recognized that the state exclusive registration statute was unconstitutional. The agreed order of dismissal also stated that the issues of costs on appeal and in the district court would be reserved pending decisions on requests for taxation and motions filed by the Loyalists and the national party. At the same time that the parties submitted the agreed order of dismissal to the district court, the Loyalists and the national party filed a motion for an award of costs and attorneys' fees under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973l (e), 1988 (1976).

In November 1977 the district court conducted a hearing about the award of costs and fees. The Regulars presented two witnesses, who testified that an award of fees would be a hardship upon the Regulars and would disrupt the unity of the newly unified Democratic Party. In July 1978 the district court denied the Loyalists' and national party's motions for an award of fees and costs. The court found that an award of fees would disrupt the new party unity, and would be inequitable because the Regulars' funds were transferred to the unified party and used to pay debts incurred by the Loyalists. From this order the Loyalists and national party now appeal.

II. Attorneys' Fees Awards under Section 1988.

42 U.S.C. § 1988 provides that the prevailing party in a suit to enforce rights under section 1983 may recover a reasonable attorneys' fee. Congress enacted this statute in 1976 to encourage private attorneys general to enforce fundamental constitutional rights under section 1983. S.Rep.No.94-1011, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 2, reprinted in (1976) U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 5908, 5910. Sections 1988 and 1973l (e) use similar language and should be construed similarly. Id.

Because this litigation was pending in 1976 when the statute was enacted, the attorneys' fee award provisions of section 1988 apply retroactively to this case. Morrow v. Dillard, 580 F.2d 1284, 1299-1300 (5th Cir. 1978). Appellees do not contest that the Loyalists constitute the prevailing party: the Loyalists won the central issue in this litigation when we declared the state exclusive registration statute unconstitutional, and this holding was expressly included in the agreed order of dismissal. See Iranian Students Association v. Edwards, 604 F.2d 352, 353 (5th Cir. 1979) ("proper focus is whether the plaintiff has been successful on the central issue"); Brown v. Culpepper, 559 F.2d 274, 277 (5th Cir. 1977) (plaintiffs constitute prevailing parties even though litigation concluded with voluntary settlement). Appellees do not contend that the principles of Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U.S. 412, 422, 98 S.Ct. 694, 700, 54 L.Ed.2d 648 (1978) (no award of attorneys' fees for civil rights defendant unless complaint was "frivolous, unreasonable or without foundation") should apply to the Loyalists in this case; although technically defendants, the Loyalists constituted effective plaintiffs on the counterclaim, and they championed the principles protected by the Constitution. See Kingsville Independent School District v. Cooper, 611 F.2d 1109, 1114 (5th Cir. 1980) (attorneys' fee award to civil rights defendant and counterclaimant); S.Rep.No.94-1011, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 4 n. 4, reprinted in (1976) U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 5908, 5912 ("in the procedural posture of some cases, the parties seeking to enforce such (constitutional) rights may be the defendants . . ."). As prevailing parties, the Loyalists and national party are entitled to an award of attorneys' fees under section 1988 regardless of their ability to pay for counsel or the availability of free legal counsel. Gore v. Turner, 563 F.2d 159, 164 (5th Cir. 1977). Although section 1988 entrusts the award of fees to the discretion of the trial court, a prevailing party should recover attorneys'...