Counsel for Complainant thereafter submitted a verified fee petition. Respondents' attorney filed objections to the petition. The Commission now enters the following order. The Commission has previously decided that prevailing Complainants are entitled to an award of reasonable fees and costs. In their petition, Complainant's attorneys describe their professional experience and set forth the total number of hours they expended in this matter.
Respondents object to the fee request on several grounds.
First, they assert that the requested award should be reduced because of Complainant's lack of success on the merits. We have previously held, however, that there is no requirement of proportionality between damages and fees and no requirement that fees be reduced because the damages awarded are less than the damages requested. We see no reason to depart from our prior holdings here. Respondents next argue that the award should be reduced because it will substantially burden Respondent Jasniowski. That, he claims, is too much.