Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-almd-2_11-cv-00462/USCOURTS-almd-2_11-cv-00462-1/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 442
Nature of Suit: Civil Rights Employment
Cause of Action: 42:2000 Job Discrimination (Race)

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IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE

MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, NORTHERN DIVISION

VIOLA H. BANKS, )

)

Plaintiff, )

) CIVIL ACTION NO.

v. ) 2:11cv462-MHT

) (WO)

JACKSON HOSPITAL & CLINIC, )

INC., )

)

Defendant. )

OPINION AND ORDER

Plaintiff Viola H. Banks brought this lawsuit against

defendant Jackson Hospital & Clinic, Inc., alleging raceand age-based discrimination. On February 21, 2012, this

court granted Banks’s motion to extend time to file her

response to the hospital’s motion for summary judgment on

the condition that Banks’s counsel pay half of the

reasonable attorney’s fees that the hospital incurred in

connection with the extension. Banks v. Jackson Hosp. &

Clinic, Inc., 2012 WL 566561, *1 (M.D. Ala. Feb. 21,

2012). Banks’s counsel agreed and the case is now before

Case 2:11-cv-00462-MHT-WC Document 59 Filed 05/08/12 Page 1 of 3
2

the court on the hospital’s motion for fees. For the

reasons that follow, that motion will be granted.

As a condition of granting Banks’s motion to extend,

this court required her counsel to agree, in writing, to

pay 50 % “of the reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses

that defendant Jackson Hospital & Clinic, Inc. ...

incurred in connection with the extension motion.” Id.

On February 23, her counsel entered a notice indicating

that he “respectfully accept[ed] the conditions set forth

in [that order].” Notice (Doc. No. 33) at 1. The

hospital then submitted evidence of its fees and

expenses. Therefore, the only question now before the

court is whether the fees and expenses sought are

reasonable.

The hospital submits a total of $ 407.50 in fees and

no expenses attributable to the motion to extend. The

fee amount constitutes a little more than two hours of

work at attorney billing rates between $ 130 and $ 185

per hour. Banks’s counsel has raised no objection either

Case 2:11-cv-00462-MHT-WC Document 59 Filed 05/08/12 Page 2 of 3
to the number of hours worked or to the applicable

billing rates and the court, based on “its own knowledge

and experience concerning reasonable and proper fees,”

Norman v. Hous. Auth. of Montgomery, 836 F.2d 1292, 1303

(11th Cir. 1988), concludes that $ 407.50 is appropriate

under the circumstances. Therefore, pursuant to this

court’s previous order, Banks’s counsel must pay to the

hospital 50 % (or $ 203.75) of that amount. 

***

It is therefore the ORDER, JUDGMENT, and DECREE of

the court as follows:

(1) Defendant Jackson Hospital & Clinic, Inc.’s

motion for fees (doc. no. 38) is granted.

(2) Defendant Jackson Hospital & Clinic, Inc. is

entitled to $ 203.75 in fees. 

(3) The above-referenced fees must be paid, within 14

days, by plaintiff Viola H. Banks’s counsel and are not

to be born by the plaintiff Banks herself.

DONE, this the 8th day of May, 2012.

 /s/ Myron H. Thompson 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Case 2:11-cv-00462-MHT-WC Document 59 Filed 05/08/12 Page 3 of 3