Robbins v. Chronister

Decision Date04 April 2005
Docket NumberNo. 02-3115.,02-3115.
Citation402 F.3d 1047
PartiesRalph ROBBINS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Larry CHRONISTER, in his personal and official capacity, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Intervenor.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Kenneth J. Moore (F. Charles Dunlay, Assistant Counsel, on the briefs), Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas Legal Department, Kansas City, KS, for Defendant-Appellant.

Larry J. Leatherman, of Palmer, Leatherman & White, L.L.P., Topeka, KS, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General; Eric F. Melgren, United States Attorney; Barbara L. Herwig, Jonathan H. Levy, Attorneys, Appellate Staff, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; filed a brief for the Intervenor United States of America.

Before SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge, McWILLIAMS, Senior Circuit Judge, and HARTZ, Circuit Judge.

SEYMOUR, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-appellee Ralph Robbins prevailed in a § 1983 civil rights suit against Larry Chronister, a police officer who violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The court awarded Mr. Robbins nominal damages of one dollar.1 Robbins v. Chronister, 156 F.Supp.2d 1211 (D.Kan.2001). Applying the Supreme Court's absurdity exception to the plain language rule of statutory construction, the court then held that the provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) limiting attorney's fee awards in prisoner suits to 150% of the money judgment, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d), does not apply to civil rights claims arising before the victim of the constitutional violation was incarcerated. The court awarded Mr. Robbins reasonable attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 without regard to the PLRA's fee cap. We affirm.

I.

In December 1995, Mr. Robbins was sitting in his car at a gas station in Kansas City, Kansas, waiting for a gas pump to become available. Larry Chronister, an off-duty police officer, was returning home from work in his personal truck. Officer Chronister recognized Mr. Robbins from an encounter one week earlier and knew there were five outstanding traffic warrants for Mr. Robbins's arrest. After pulling into the gas station and parking his truck behind Mr. Robbins's car, Officer Chronister approached the driver's side door of Mr. Robbins's car with his baton in his hand. Officer Chronister identified himself and ordered Mr. Robbins out of the car. Mr. Robbins engaged the door locks of his car, put the car in reverse, and began to back towards Officer Chronister's truck. Officer Chronister swung his baton into the driver's side window of Mr. Robbins's car, shattering it, and attempted to pull Mr. Robbins from the car. Mr. Robbins managed to maneuver the car away from Officer Chronister's truck, and tried unsuccessfully to accelerate on the icy pavement. He skidded and spun around the parking lot, eventually fish-tailing toward Officer Chronister. As the car approached him, Officer Chronister shot at its hood and windshield. Mr. Robbins ultimately left the parking lot and wrecked the car a few blocks away. He was taken to the University of Kansas Medical Center for treatment of two gunshot wounds to the chest and one to his lower left side.

Mr. Robbins subsequently pled guilty to attempted aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Greenville, Illinois. While he was incarcerated, he filed a pro se civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Officer Chronister used excessive force in their encounter in violation of Mr. Robbins's Fourth Amendment rights. The court appointed counsel for him. After conducting a three-day bench trial, the court ruled that Officer Chronister's use of deadly force in firing the shots was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, but that shattering Mr. Robbins's driver's side window with a baton was not. Because Mr. Robbins was not physically injured as a result of the shattered window, the court awarded him nominal damages of one dollar, a determination he does not appeal.

Mr. Robbins filed a motion for attorney's fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b), which allows the court to award a reasonable attorney's fee to the prevailing party in a § 1983 action. Officer Chronister opposed the motion, arguing the plain language of § 1997e(d) of the PLRA caps Mr. Robbins's attorney's fees at 150% of his damages, or $1.50, because he was a prisoner when he filed suit. After receiving several rounds of briefing and conducting a hearing, the court declined to apply the PLRA cap. It held that applying the PLRA in these circumstances would produce an absurd result because Congress could not have intended the statute to apply to meritorious civil rights claims that arose prior to a prisoner's confinement. Finding it unnecessary to address its "grave concerns regarding the constitutionality of the fee limitations provision as applied to plaintiff," Aplt.App. at 68, the court awarded Mr. Robbins $9,680 in fees and $915.16 in expenses. On appeal, Officer Chronister contends the court should have applied the PLRA and capped Mr. Robbins's attorney's fees at $1.50.

II.

We review issues of statutory construction de novo, United States v. Oberle, 136 F.3d 1414, 1423 (10th Cir.1998), and begin by examining the plain language of the statute. Robinson v. Shell Oil Co., 519 U.S. 337, 340, 117 S.Ct. 843, 136 L.Ed.2d 808 (1997). "The plainness or ambiguity of statutory language is determined by reference to the language itself, the specific context in which that language is used, and the broader context of the statute as a whole." Id. at 341, 117 S.Ct. 843.

The PLRA provides in relevant part:

(1) In any action brought by a prisoner who is confined to any jail, prison, or other correctional facility, in which attorney's fees are authorized under section 1988 of this title, such fees shall not be awarded, except to the extent that —

(A) the fee was directly and reasonably incurred in proving an actual violation of the plaintiff's rights protected by a statute pursuant to which a fee may be awarded under section 1988 of this title;....

(2) Whenever a monetary judgment is awarded in an action described in paragraph (1), a portion of the judgment (not to exceed 25 percent) shall be applied to satisfy the amount of attorney's fees awarded against the defendant. If the award of attorney's fees is not greater than 150 percent of the judgment, the excess shall be paid by the defendant.

42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d) (footnotes omitted). Courts have interpreted the statute to limit a defendant's liability for attorney's fees to 150% of the money judgment. See, e.g., Royal v. Kautzky, 375 F.3d 720, 725 (8th Cir.2004); Walker v. Bain, 257 F.3d 660 667 (6th Cir.2001) (citing cases). The statute's plain language indicates the 150% fee cap applies if (1) the plaintiff was "a prisoner" at the time he brought the action and (2) he was awarded attorney's fees pursuant to § 1988. It is undisputed that Mr. Robbins was a prisoner when he filed his § 1983 action and that the court entered judgment in his favor by awarding him one dollar in nominal damages and reasonable attorney's fees pursuant to § 1988(b). Under the plain language rule of statutory construction, therefore, the fee cap contained in § 1997e(d) would apply to Mr. Robbins's attorney's fees, limiting the award to $1.50.

If the language of a statute is clear in its application, the general rule is that we are bound by it. Hubbard v. United States, 514 U.S. 695, 703, 115 S.Ct. 1754, 131 L.Ed.2d 779 (1995) ("In the ordinary case, absent any indication that doing so would ... yield patent absurdity, our obligation is to apply the statute as Congress wrote it." (quotation and citation omitted)). Nevertheless, where applying the plain language "would produce an absurd and unjust result which Congress could not have intended," we need not apply the language in such a fashion. Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc., 458 U.S. 564, 574, 102 S.Ct. 3245, 73 L.Ed.2d 973 (1982). This is because "interpretations of a statute which would produce absurd results are to be avoided if alternative interpretations consistent with the legislative purpose are available." Id. at 575, 102 S.Ct. 3245; see also Perry v. Commerce Loan Co., 383 U.S. 392, 400, 86 S.Ct. 852, 15 L.Ed.2d 827 (1966) (noting that when the conventional interpretation of a statutory text produces "absurd or futile results," a court may look "beyond those words to the purpose of the act" (quoting United States v. Am. Trucking Ass'ns, 310 U.S. 534, 543, 60 S.Ct. 1059, 84 L.Ed. 1345 (1940))). This absurdity exception to the plain language rule is consistent with the doctrine that "the function of the courts ... [i]s to construe... [statutory] language so as to give effect to the intent of Congress." Am. Trucking Ass'ns, 310 U.S. at 542, 60 S.Ct. 1059; see also Resolution Trust Corp. v. Westgate Partners, Ltd., 937 F.2d 526, 529 (10th Cir.1991) ("The `absurdity' exception to the plain language rule is a tool to be used to carry out Congress' intent....").

Although the absurdity doctrine is "exceptional" in character, we have applied it where construing the plain language of a statute would produce an illogical result. See United States v. Singleton, 165 F.3d 1297, 1300 (10th Cir.1999) (en banc) (holding it would be absurd to apply witness bribery statute to prosecutor's offer of leniency in exchange for codefendant's testimony); Den Hartog v. Wasatch Acad., 129 F.3d 1076, 1090-91 (10th Cir.1997) (invoking absurdity doctrine to expand Americans with Disabilities Act's affirmative defense against conditions posing "direct threats" to safety). Other federal courts of appeal have applied the doctrine regularly throughout the last decade. See, e.g., Smith v. Zachary, 255 F.3d 446, 450 (7th Cir.2001) (finding it absurd to conclude PLRA's exhaustion requirement for challenges to "prison conditions" was inapplicable to action challenging a single, isolated use of excessive force by...

To continue reading

Request your trial
29 cases
  • Schwab v. Schwab
    • United States
    • Wisconsin Supreme Court
    • 22 Junio 2021
    ...Laundry Machine Co., 490 U.S. 504, 527-30, 109 S. Ct. 1981, 104 L.Ed.2d 557 (1989) (Scalia, J., concurring), and Robbins v. Chronister, 402 F.3d 1047, 1050 (10th Cir. 2005), the last of which collected other United States Supreme Court decisions applying the "absurdity exception." Johnson v......
  • Town of Superior v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Colorado
    • 21 Diciembre 2012
    ...Serv., 546 U.S. 481, 486 (2006). The courts' purpose in this task is to "give effect to the intent of Congress." Robbins v. Chronister, 402 F.3d 1047, 1050 (10th Cir. 2005) (internal citation omitted). To that end, "interpretations of a statute which would produce absurd results are to be a......
  • In re Williams
    • United States
    • U.S. Bankruptcy Court — District of Colorado
    • 12 Septiembre 2008
    ...See In re Echeman, 378 B.R. 177, 182 n. 7 (Bankr.S.D.Ohio 2007). 46. Id. (emphasis added) (citation omitted). 47. Robbins v. Chronister, 402 F.3d 1047, 1050 (10th Cir.2005) (citations 48. See In re Kagenveama, 527 F.3d 990, 998-1000 (9th Cir.2008), amended by 541 F.3d 868 (9th Cir.2008); In......
  • Mata ex rel. J.A.M. v. City of Farmington
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of New Mexico
    • 17 Junio 2011
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT