Tinch v. City of Dayton, No. C-3-89-263.

• Decision Date: 30 April 2002
• Docket Number: No. C-3-89-263.
• Citation: 199 F.Supp.2d 758
• Parties: Tonya TINCH, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF DAYTON, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

199 F.Supp.2d 758

Tonya TINCH, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF DAYTON, et al., Defendants.

No. C-3-89-263.

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Western Division.

April 30, 2002.

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Dwight Brannon, Dayton, OH, for Plaintiff.

Neil Freund, Dayton, OH, Joseph Campbell, Xenia, OH, for Defendant.

DECISION AND ENTRY QUANTIFYING AWARD OF ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS; PLAINTIFFS AWARDED ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS IN THE SUM OF $118,946.24; JUDGMENT TO ENTER ACCORDINGLY

RICE, Chief Judge.

This litigation arose out of an incident which took the life of Scott Tinch, who was shot and killed by Michael Sipes, an officer in the Dayton Police Department. Nearly two years after that incident, Tonya Tinch, the widow of Scott Tinch, initiated this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.¹ After lengthy pretrial proceedings, this litigation proceeded to trial. The jury returned answers to interrogatories, which resulted in this Court entering judgment in favor of the Plaintiffs in the sum of $111,000. See Docs. # 134 and # 143. Thereafter, both the Plaintiffs and the Defendants appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Sixth Circuit affirmed this Court in all respects, except for the amount of damages awarded. See Tinch v. City of Dayton, 1996 WL 77445, 77 F.3d 483 (6th Cir.1996). As to damages, the Sixth Circuit concluded that the Plaintiffs were not entitled to recover, as an element of their damages, the loss of the enjoyment of life of Scott Tinch. Id. at *2, 77 F.3d 483. As a consequence, the damages award was reduced from $111,000 to $25,000. On October 7, 1996, the United States Supreme Court denied Plaintiffs' petition for a writ of certiorari. See 519 U.S. 862, 117 S.Ct. 168, 136 L.Ed.2d 110 (1996).

While this case was on appeal before the Sixth Circuit, the Plaintiffs filed their Motion for an Award of Attorney's Fees and Costs (Doc. # 149), later supplemented with their Supplemental Motion for an Award of Attorney's Fees and Costs (Doc. # 214). Previously, this Court sustained those motions, concluding that the Plaintiffs had prevailed in this litigation and noting that the Defendants had failed to argue that the Plaintiffs were not entitled to recover any amount of attorney's fees and costs.² See Doc. # 239. The Court indicated that it would quantify that amount by a separate Entry. Id. As supplemented, the Plaintiffs requested attorney's fees and costs in the sum of $382,239.79. See Docs. # 149 and # 214. Herein, the Court quantifies the amount of that award, beginning its analysis by focusing on the amount of attorney's fees which the Plaintiffs seek to recover, following which it will turn to the Plaintiffs' request for an award of costs.

I. Attorney's Fees

Under 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b), a District Court may award "a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs." Thus, this Court must determine what constitutes a "reasonable attorney's fee" in this litigation. In Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983), the Supreme Court said that "[t]he most useful starting point for determining the amount of a reasonable fee is the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate." Id. at 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933. See also, Blanchard v. Bergeron, 489 U.S. 87, 94, 109 S.Ct. 939, 103 L.Ed.2d 67 (1989). The party seeking attorney's fees bears the burden of proof on the number of hours reasonably expended and the reasonableness of the rates claimed. Granzeier v. Middleton, 173 F.3d 568, 577 (6th Cir.1999). See also, Reed v. Rhodes, 179 F.3d 453, 472 (6th Cir.1999) (noting that the party seeking attorney's fees bears the burden of documenting her entitlement to the award). In determining the number of hours reasonably expended, the District Court should exclude excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary hours. Hensley, 461 U.S. at 434, 103 S.Ct. 1933. The multiplication of reasonable hours expended by a reasonable hourly rate results in the lodestar amount. The lodestar amount, in turn, may be enhanced or reduced by a multiplier. Id. at 434-37, 103 S.Ct. 1933. The Supreme Court explained in Hensley:

The product of reasonable hours times a reasonable rate does not end the inquiry. There remain other considerations that may lead the district court to adjust the fee upward or downward, including the important factor of the "results obtained." This factor is particularly crucial where a plaintiff is deemed "prevailing" even though he succeeded on only some of his claims for relief. In this situation two questions must be addressed. First, did the plaintiff fail to prevail on claims that were unrelated to the claims on which he succeeded? Second, did the plaintiff achieve a level of success that makes the hours reasonably expended a satisfactory basis for making a fee award?

Id. at 434, 103 S.Ct. 1933. There is, however, "a strong presumption that the lode-star represents the reasonable fee." City of Burlington v. Dague, 505 U.S. 557, 562, 112 S.Ct. 2638, 120 L.Ed.2d 449 (1992). A District Court's award of attorney's fees under § 1988 is entitled to "substantial deference." Fisher v. City of Memphis, 234 F.3d 312, 319 (6th Cir.2000).

The Plaintiffs seek attorney's fees in the sum of $317,410.00, see Docs. # 149 and # 214, representing compensation for a total of 1,714.05 hours expended in this litigation,³ to be compensated at rates ranging from $50.00 to $250.00 per hour. Id. In addition, the Plaintiffs request that the Court enhance that amount with a multiplier, in order to reflect the quality of professional services rendered, the fact that counsel agreed to represent the Plaintiffs on a contingent fee basis and to vindicate the federal civil rights laws. As a means of analysis, the Court will initially discuss the question of whether the Plaintiffs are seeking compensation for a reasonable number of hours, following which it will turn to the hourly rates requested. Finally, the Court will decide whether the Plaintiffs are entitled to have their counsel's lodestar amount increased by a multiplier.

A. Reasonable Number of Hours Expended

As an initial matter, the Plaintiffs seek attorney's fees for a significant amount of time expended after the jury verdict was returned in this litigation. In particular, the Plaintiffs assert that their attorneys and their paralegal expended 428.55 hours after the jury returned its verdict on matters such as preparation and briefing of their post-judgment motions to the Court and the appellate proceedings. The Defendants argue that the Plaintiffs are not entitled to recover attorney's fees for time expended on their post-judgment motions and the appeal, because they were not successful on those matters. Since Plaintiffs did not prevail on their post-judgment motions or on their appeal, this Court agrees. See Coulter v. Tennessee, 805 F.2d 146, 151 (6th Cir.1986) (noting that in "motions that go to a particular issue in a case, the question should be whether the person seeking compensation prevailed on the motion or in the end prevailed on the issue raised in the motion in part as a result of the motion"), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 914, 107 S.Ct. 3186, 96 L.Ed.2d 674 (1987). The Court notes that counsel expended some of that time after the jury verdict was returned, in order to prepare, to brief and to supplement Plaintiffs' request for attorney's fees and costs. The Sixth Circuit has recognized that a prevailing party is entitled to recover attorney's fees for the reasonable time expended to obtain an award of such fees. Id. Accordingly, the Court will allow the Plaintiffs to recover attorney's fees for the reasonable time expended by counsel to request same. The Court has reviewed the materials submitted by Plaintiffs to support their request for an award of attorney's fees and concludes that they are entitled to recover $2750.00, to compensate them for the time incurred to request such fees.⁴

With their Motion for Attorney's Fees and Costs (Doc. # 149), the Plaintiffs claim that Dwight Brannon ("Brannon") expended 997.5 hours, that William Knapp ("Knapp"), another attorney, expended 146 hours and that the paralegal Debra Walters ("Walters") expended 330.75 hours. However, from those totals, the Court must deduct the time which they expended after the jury returned its verdict. As a result, the Court will limit the Plaintiffs' request to 842.5 hours for Brannon, 146 hours for Knapp and 297.25 hours for Walters.⁵

That number of hours is the starting point for the Court's determination of a reasonable amount of time expended on this litigation. The Defendants argue that the Plaintiffs are seeking compensation for an unreasonably large amount of time, which the Court should reduce. Based upon the reasoning set forth in the following two paragraphs, the Court will reduce the number of hours claimed by the Plaintiffs by 30%.

As an initial matter, in Hudson v. Reno, 130 F.3d 1193 (6th Cir.1997), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 822, 119 S.Ct. 64, 142 L.Ed.2d 50 (1998), overruled in part on other grounds, Pollard v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 532 U.S. 843, 121 S.Ct. 1946, 150 L.Ed.2d 62 (2001), the Sixth Circuit indicated that a District Court retains the discretion to make a simple across-the-board reduction, by a certain percentage, in order to account for duplicative hours. 130 F.3d 1209.⁶ Accord, Coulter, 805 F.2d at 152. Consequently, this Court concludes that it possesses the discretion to reduce the amount of attorney's fees Plaintiffs are seeking, by a percentage on an across-the-board basis, and turns to the question of whether to exercise that discretion in this litigation.

Herein, the Plaintiffs seek compensation for a number of duplicative hours. Brannon, Knapp and Walters all recorded a significant number of hours in months preceding the trial, as well as during the trial itself. It appears from the documentation supplied by the Plaintiffs, as well as from ...