Webb et al v. ADA County et al

• Decision Date: 07 May 1999
• Docket Number: No. 97-35990,97-35990
• Parties: (9th Cir. 1999) ROBERT WEBB, individually and for all other persons similarly situated; TERRY STERKENBURG; TIMOTHY DRISCOLL; FRANK WALLMULLER; RUSSELL HOWARD; ROBERT FRIEDLY; KENT HALL; PEGGY KNOX; BILL LOHR; JESSE FULLER, Plaintiffs-Appellants, and LESA COONTZ; LESLIE IGOU; JOSEPH UHRICH; JANE DOE, Plaintiffs, v. ADA COUNTY, State of Idaho; VAUGHN KILLEEN, individually and in his capacity of Sheriff of Ada County; GARY GLENN; VERN BISTERFELT; JOHN BASTIDA, Ada County Commissioners, each sued in his individual and official capacities, Defendants-Appellees
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 524

195 F.3d 524 (9th Cir. 1999)

ROBERT WEBB, individually and for all other persons similarly situated; TERRY STERKENBURG; TIMOTHY DRISCOLL; FRANK WALLMULLER; RUSSELL HOWARD; ROBERT FRIEDLY; KENT HALL; PEGGY KNOX; BILL LOHR; JESSE FULLER, Plaintiffs-Appellants, and LESA COONTZ; LESLIE IGOU; JOSEPH UHRICH; JANE DOE, Plaintiffs, v. ADA COUNTY, State of Idaho; VAUGHN KILLEEN, individually and in his capacity of Sheriff of Ada County; GARY GLENN; VERN BISTERFELT; JOHN BASTIDA, Ada County Commissioners, each sued in his individual and official capacities, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 97-35990

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Argued and Submitted May 7, 1999--Seattle, Washington

Decided October 29, 1999

Howard A. Belodoff, Boise, Idaho, for the plaintiffs-appellants.

Carl B. Colaianni, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Boise,

Idaho, for the defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Idaho; Edward J. Lodge, Chief Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-91-00204-EJL

Before: Robert R. Beezer, Charles Wiggins and Andrew J. Kleinfeld, Circuit Judges.

BEEZER, Circuit Judge:

Robert Webb and several plaintiffs in this civil rights class action ("Webb") appeal the district court's judgment awarding only a percentage of the attorney's fees Webb requested. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. S 1291 over all Webb's claims save one. As to the claims for which we have jurisdiction, we affirm in part and remand in part in light of Martin v. Hadix, 119 S. Ct. 1998 (1999).

I

Webb brought a class action pursuant to 42 U.S.C.S 1983, challenging conditions at the Ada County Jail ("the Jail"). Through various court orders and a partial consent decree, Webb prevailed on several issues. The district court awarded Webb $224,308 in attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C.S 1988. For ease of reference, we refer to the initial disposition of the merits and attorney's fees issues as "Webb I ."

Webb, through his attorneys, continued to work on the case after the entry of judgment. Webb was partially successful in these efforts. He sought fees for eight postjudgment matters: hours expended monitoring compliance with the partial consent decree ("consent decree monitoring"); a motion to strike the affidavit of Dr. Jerry Doke ("Doke motion"); a motion for contempt; a motion for sanctions based on discovery abuses; a reply to defendants' objections regarding fees in Webb I; briefing on the retroactive impact of the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PLRA"), Pub. L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321 (1996), on fees in Webb I; a motion to alter or amend judgment in Webb I; and the very act of requesting attorney's fees on these seven matters ("fees-on-fees").

The district court awarded the full hours requested for feeson-fees but awarded zero hours on the Doke motion. As the consent decree monitoring issue was still pending before the magistrate, the court declined to rule on the related fee request. On the other five matters, the court awarded between 19 and 64 percent of Webb's requested hours. The court reduced the hourly rate of lead counsel from the $140 it had awarded in Webb I to $125 an hour. Webb appeals the court's reduction of both the requested hours worked and the requested hourly rate.

II

We do not have jurisdiction over fees for consent decree monitoring. The district court declined to rule on whether attorney's fees were warranted because the matter was still pending before the magistrate. As there is no final judgment or any other applicable exception to the final judgment rule, we lack jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. S 1291. We dismiss Webb's appeal as to fees for consent decree monitoring.

We have jurisdiction over Webb's remaining claims. Interim awards of attorney's fees made prior to a final judgment on the merits are generally not appealable under 28 U.S.C. S 1291; however, they may be appealable when they dispose of the fee issue for oversight of a consent decree. See Gates v. Rowland, 39 F.3d 1439, 1450 (9th Cir. 1994). The court entered judgment as to attorney's fees on seven postjudgment matters. We may treat as final these periodic fees awarded during the remedial phase of a civil rights case.

III

We review the district court's denial of attorney's fees for abuse of discretion. See Native Village of Venetie IRA Council v. Alaska, 155 F.3d 1150, 1151 (9th Cir. 1998). Underlying legal analysis and statutory interpretation are reviewed de novo, and underlying factual findings are reviewed for clear error. See id. at 1151-52. The court calculates a reasonable fee by multiplying the number of hours reasonably worked on litigation by a reasonable hourly rate, arriving at a "lodestar." See McGrath v. County of Nevada, 67 F.3d 248, 252 (9th Cir. 1995). The court may downwardly adjust either the components of the lodestar or the lodestar itself to reflect the results obtained. See Schwarz v. Secretary of Health & Human Services, 73 F.3d 895, 901 ( 9th Cir. 1995)¹. Our ultimate review of the court's award is limited by the "considerable discretion" a district court enjoys in determining what attorney's fee is reasonable. Id.

A

Webb challenges the district court's refusal to award any attorney's fees for the Doke motion. According to Webb's billing sheets, all work on the Doke motion was completed prior to the effective date of the PLRA, April 26, 1996. The court properly declined to apply the PLRA to the Doke motion.

Where a party is not ultimately successful on a claim, its "victory" at a preliminary stage of litigation is only "fleeting," and does not justify a fee award. Corder v. Gates, 104 F.3d 247, 249 (9th Cir. 1996) (internal quotation marks omitted). Although Webb successfully struck Doke's affidavits, he failed to achieve his purpose -having Doke declared not competent to provide psychological services at the Jail and having the psychological and other medical services provided by the Jail declared unconstitutional. The district court found that Doke was a competent psychological care provider and that the Jail's medical services -other than in the provision of special diets -did not violate the Eighth Amendment. We affirmed in an unpublished order. See Webb v. Ada County, No. 97-35008, 1998 WL 246521, at * 3 (9th Cir. May 15, 1998). The court correctly determined that Webb was not a prevailing party as to Doke or to the relevant medical services, and thus appropriately denied fees related to the Doke motion.

B

Webb at least partially succeeded on six postjudgment matters: altering or amending judgment in Webb I ; contempt; sanctions; fees in Webb I; the effect of the PLRA in Webb I; and fees-on-fees. As to these six matters, Webb claims that the district court abused its discretion in reducing his requested attorney's fees. Specifically, Webb claims that the court erred...