An Attorneys' Fee Award Should Not Be Reduced Just Because The Plaintiff's Recovery Is Small Compared To The Amount Requested, As Long As The Recovery Is Not Nominal
ESTATE OF ANGELA ENOCH v. TIENOR (June 29, 2009)
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Angela Enoch committed suicide while a prisoner in a Wisconsin state prison. Her estate brought a lawsuit alleging violations of her rights. The plaintiffs accepted the defendants' $635,000 offer of judgment. The offer of judgment did not include attorneys’ fees. On the plaintiffs' request for fees in excess of $300,000, the court awarded only $100,000. The court's rationale was that the plaintiffs recovered only a small fraction of the $10 million sought in their complaint. The Estate appeals.
In their opinion, Chief Judge Easterbrook and Judges Bauer and Evans reversed and remanded. The Court held that the lower court erred in relying on the Supreme Court’s Farrar decision. Farrar deals with fee awards for plaintiffs who prevail but receive only nominal damages (Farrar asked for $17 million and received $1). Here, although the Court believed the $10 million sought was absurdly high, it concluded that a recovery of $635,000 in prison litigation is significant. A fee award need not be proportional to the recovery or to the amount recovered versus the amount requested. The Court remanded for a recalculation of the award using the lodestar as a starting point and also considering the result obtained, any claims on which plaintiffs did not prevail, the adequacy of the documentation, and any social benefits obtained.
