US v. City and County of San Francisco

• Decision Date: 25 September 1990
• Docket Number: C-84-1100 MHP.,No. C-84-7089 MHP,C-84-7089 MHP
• Citation: 748 F. Supp. 1416
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. The CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, et al., Defendants. San Francisco Firefighters Local 798, et al., Defendants, In Intervention. Fontaine DAVIS, et al., Plaintiffs, In Intervention. v. CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, et al., Defendants. San Francisco Firefighters Local 798, et al., Defendants, In Intervention.

748 F. Supp. 1416

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. The CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, et al., Defendants.

San Francisco Firefighters Local 798, et al., Defendants, In Intervention.

Fontaine DAVIS, et al., Plaintiffs, In Intervention. v. CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, et al., Defendants.

San Francisco Firefighters Local 798, et al., Defendants, In Intervention.

Nos. C-84-7089 MHP, C-84-1100 MHP.

United States District Court, N.D. California.

September 25, 1990.

Eva Jefferson Paterson, San Francisco Lawyers' Committee for Urban Affairs, Shauna I. Marshall, Equal Rights Advocates, William C. McNeill, III, Employment Law Center, Denise M. Hulett, Mexican-American Legal Defense & Educational Fund, San Francisco, Cal., Dennis W. Hayashi, Asian Law Caucus, Oakland, Cal., Mary C. Dunlap, Law Offices of Mary C. Dunlap, San Francisco, Cal., Russell Galloway, Berkeley, Cal., Richard M. Pearl, Law Offices of Richard M. Pearl, San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiffs in intervention.

Robert T. Moore, Richard S. Ugelow, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civ. Rights Div., Employment Litigation Section, Washington, D.C., Joann Swanson, Dept. of Justice, San Francisco, Cal., for Dept. of Justice.

Duane W. Reno, Cindy O'Hara-Varela, Davis, Reno & Courtney, San Francisco, Cal., for Firefighters Union, Local No. 798.

Louise K. Renne, City Atty., George Riley, Deputy City Atty., Judy Lynch, Deputy City Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for the City & County of San Francisco.

Barbara Y. Phillips, Rosen & Phillips, San Francisco, Cal., Special Monitor.

OPINION

PATEL, District Judge.

These consolidated actions alleging constitutional and statutory violations arising from racial discrimination and harassment in employment practices were settled pursuant to a Consent Decree filed May 20, 1988. The matter is now before the court on plaintiff-intervenors' motion for an award of attorneys' fees under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). Having considered the submissions of the parties, the court awards fees as set forth below.

BACKGROUND

These consolidated employment discrimination actions were brought by the United States and various individuals and organizations ("plaintiff-intervenors") against the City and County of San Francisco ("the City") in 1984 under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act of 1972, 31 U.S.C. § 6701 et seq. (repealed 1986). Although this action was first initiated by the United States, private plaintiffs were allowed to intervene and carried the bulk of the work. The United States entered into an agreement disposing of its interest in the litigation well before entry of the final consent decree.¹ The provisions of the government's agreement were mainly hortatory. The significant achievements on behalf of class members were accomplished by plaintiff-intervenors.

As consolidated, the claims in these actions focused on the City's use of invalid hiring and promotional procedures that had an adverse impact on women and minorities. Certain claims also alleged racial harassment of minority firefighters. All claims were settled as between the City and the plaintiff and plaintiff-intervenors pursuant to a consent decree filed May 20, 1988. United States v. City and County of San Francisco, 696 F.Supp. 1287, 1312 (N.D.Cal.1988) ("Davis III"), aff'd, 890 F.2d 1438 (9th Cir.1989), petition for cert. filed (Aug. 7, 1990) (No. 90-248). Although the decree settled all disputes on the merits, it did not resolve attorneys' fees. On December 2, 1988, counsel for plaintiff intervenors ("fee applicants") filed a motion seeking an award of attorney's fees against the City and against defendants-in-intervention, San Francisco Firefighters Union, Local No. 798 ("the Union" or "Local 798") under Title VII, section 706(k) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k).²

LEGAL STANDARD

The standards for attorneys' fee awards for prevailing Title VII plaintiffs are the same as those for fee awards under the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433 n. 7, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 1939 n. 7, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). Accordingly, absent special circumstances, prevailing Title VII plaintiffs should recover attorneys' fees. Id. at 429, 103 S.Ct. at 1937.

Ordinarily, plaintiffs will be considered to have prevailed when they have vindicated important rights or when they succeed on any significant issue that achieves some of the benefit the parties sought in bringing suit. Maher v. Gagne, 448 U.S. 122, 129, 100 S.Ct. 2570, 2574, 65 L.Ed.2d 653 (1980); Hensley, 461 U.S. at 433, 103 S.Ct. at 1939 (citing Nadeau v. Helgemoe, 581 F.2d 275, 278-79 (1st Cir. 1978)).

If the court determines that plaintiffs have prevailed, it must calculate a reasonable attorneys' fee. The first step in this process is to arrive at a preliminary estimate of the value of the lawyer's services by multiplying the number of hours reasonably expended by a reasonable hourly rate. Hensley, 461 U.S. at 433, 103 S.Ct. at 1939. To assist the court in arriving at this "lodestar" figure, the Ninth Circuit has adopted a twelve-factor formula which must be applied in each case.³ Kerr v. Screen Extras Guild, 526 F.2d 67, 70 (9th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 951, 96 S.Ct. 1726, 48 L.Ed.2d 195 (1976). Supporting documentation with respect to the hours claimed and the rate requested must be provided to the court by plaintiffs. The documentation must be "sufficiently detailed that a neutral judge could make a fair evaluation of the time expended, the nature and need for the service, and the reasonable fees to be allowed." Jordan v. Multnomah County, 815 F.2d 1258, 1263 (9th Cir.1987) (quoting Hensley, 461 U.S. at 441, 103 S.Ct. at 1943 (Burger, C.J., concurring)). There is a strong presumption that the resulting lodestar figure constitutes the reasonable fee, although it may be enhanced in rare cases. Jordan, 815 F.2d at 1262.

DISCUSSION

Both the City and the Union concede that plaintiff-intervenors are prevailing parties. The current dispute is whether the attorneys' fees requested are reasonable. The issues of both the hours expended and the rates requested have been thoroughly briefed and subjected to extensive discovery.⁴ The court will take each in turn.

I. Hours Reasonably Expended

In arriving at a figure for hours reasonably expended in litigation, the court employs the first of the twelve Kerr factors — the time and labor required. The fee applicants must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the hours expended on the litigation were reasonable. They must submit detailed time records. Chalmers v. City of Los Angeles, 796 F.2d 1205, 1210 (9th Cir.1986), reh'g denied, opinion amended, 808 F.2d 1373 (9th Cir.1987). The court may reduce the allowable hours on the grounds of inadequate documentation, overstaffing, duplicative hours, or excessive or otherwise unnecessary hours. Id. The City and, to a lesser extent, the Union challenge the reported hours on all of these bases.

A. Inadequate Documentation

The City argues that plaintiff-intervenors' hours must be reduced due to overly vague descriptions of counsels' activities.⁵ According to the City, time sheets only describing "co-counsel meeting," "client meeting" or "legal research" are too general to aid the court in determining whether the hours chronicled were reasonably expended. The City compares these inadequacies to those found in Daly v. Hill, 790 F.2d 1071, 1079-80 (4th Cir.1986) (deducting virtually all hours described only as "conference with client"); Grogg v. General Motors Corp., 612 F.Supp. 1375, 1382 (S.D.N.Y.1985) (50% reduction in total hours where records too vague to determine whether hours were reasonably expended); and Kraszewski v. State Farm Insurance, 36 F.E.P.Cas. 1371, 1378, 1984 WL 1027 (N.D.Cal.1984) (deducting hours described only as "conference with name").

In response, the plaintiff-intervenors argue that the court may properly refer to the relevant context of the litigation history and to summaries prepared from plaintiff's notes and files to resolve any vague time records. This court agrees.

"Basing the attorneys' fee award in part on reconstructed records developed by reference to litigation files and other records" is an established practice in this circuit. Bonnette v. California Health and Welfare Agency, 704 F.2d 1465, 1473 (9th Cir. 1983), aff'g 525 F.Supp. 128 (N.D.Cal.1981). Accord, Beta Sys., Inc. v. United States, 866 F.2d 1404, 1406 (Fed.Cir.1989) (documentation held sufficiently detailed where supplemented by "typical billing records, showing time and charges, a description of the work done, and by whom"); Berberena v. Coler, 753 F.2d 629, 634 (7th Cir.1985) (otherwise vague entries on time sheets deemed permissible when viewed in the context of sufficiently detailed surrounding documentation); City of Detroit v. Grinnell Corp., 560 F.2d 1093, 1103 (2d Cir. 1977) (allowing reconstruction of undocumented time records by reference to pleading files, time records of other attorneys and other contemporaneous documents).

In response to court instructions, the City submitted a detailed summary of challenged records. Plaintiff-intervenors have submitted extensive reconstructed time records covering each of the challenged time entries. The reconstructed records were based upon (1) agendas and summaries of meetings; (2) notes and time records of co-counsel; and (3) the temporal and factual context of the challenged events.

The court has examined these records and determines that no reduction is necessary, particularly in light of plaintiff-intervenors' 5% reduction for billing judgment. The challenged hours were reasonably spent.

B. Overstaffing

The City and the Union both assert that the plaintiff-intervenors' litigation team of seven attorneys constitutes gross overstaffing. The City argues that there were no real conflicts among the...