Source: http://openjurist.org/157/f3d/1243
Timestamp: 2013-06-19 12:07:13
Document Index: 389084660

Matched Legal Cases: ['art    873', 'art, 461', '§ 1988', '§ 1983', '§ 1988', '§ 1988', '§ 1920', '§ 1988', '§ 1988', '§ 1988', '§ 1988', '§ 1920', '§ 1920']

157 F3d 1243 Case v. Unified School District No Johnson County Kansas | OpenJurist
157 F. 3d 1243 - Case v. Unified School District No Johnson County Kansas	Home157 f3d 1243 case v. unified school district no johnson county kansas
157 F3d 1243 Case v. Unified School District No Johnson County Kansas 157 F.3d 1243
129 Ed. Law Rep. 1003, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5254
Stevana CASE, Andy Case, a minor, by and through his parentand next friend, Steven Case; Steven Case, individually,Amanda Greb, a minor, by and through her parent and nextfriend, Cynthia Greb; Cynthia Greb, individually; RebekkaKamberg, a minor, by and through her parent and next fried,Mary-Lane Kamberg; Johanna Kamberg, a minor, by and throughher parent and next friend, Mary-Lane Kamberg; Mary-LaneKamberg, individually; Sam Pierron, a minor, by and throughhis parent and next friend, Amy Pierron; Abby Pierron, byand through her parent and next friend, Amy Pierron; AmyPierron, individually; Jon Stonger, a minor, by and throughhis parent and next friend, Rex Stonger; and Rex Stonger,individually, Plaintiffs-Appellants,v.UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 233, JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS, andDr. Ron Wimmer, in his capacity as Superintendentof Schools, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 96-3328.
David J. Waxse, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, L.L.P., Overland Park, Kansas, (J. Eugene Balloun and Celia K. Garrett, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, L.L.P. and John E. Kirkland, New City, New York, with him on briefs) for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Daniel B. Denk (Gregory P. Goheen with him on the brief), McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips, P.A., Kansas City, Kansas, for Defendants-Appellees.
Appellants          Defendants           District Court
Claimed           Suggested                Awarded
Marjorie Heins    147.7 hours at   Their affiant stated           None
(ACLU)          $240/hour       that a reasonable
bill was 1,405
Eugene         500 hours at     hours at $150/hour        160 hours at
Balloun         $240/hour        for partners and          $125/hour
$90 to $100/hour
David Waxse     324.4 hours at   for associates.  The        160 hours at
$180/hour      appellees disagreed         $125/hour
John Bullock    1,690.2 hours at     1,100 hours at          190 hours at
$100/hour         $135/hour for            $100/hour
Scott Nehrbass    75.6 hours at        partners and       None--not mentioned
$90/hour          $85/hour for        in district court
Kevin Karpin     145.9 hours at      associates was      None--not mentioned
$90/hour          reasonable.         in district court
Total       2,883.8 hours &amp;      1,100 hours &amp;           510 hours &amp;
Attorney Fees     $382,655.25           $113,500               $59,000
[$402,795"5%]
Ms. Seels      233.4 hours at
Ms. Heald      71.55 hours at
Ms. Rinehart    873.14 hours at       200 hours at           150 hours at
$50/hour            $50/hour               $35/hour
Ms. Lary        1.5 hours at
Total Legal    1,179.59 hours &amp;      200 hours &amp;            150 hours &amp;
Assistant Fees      $61,484.71           $10,000                 $5,250
[$64,720.75"5%]
Copies          $11,391.00             N/A                    None
Fax Charges        $858.86               N/A                    None
Westlaw Charges     $8,500.49              N/A                 $4,250.25
"[A]n attorneys' fee award by the district court will be upset on appeal only if it represents an abuse of discretion." Mares v. Credit Bureau of Raton, 801 F.2d 1197, 1201 (10th Cir.1986). We also apply abuse of discretion review to the taxing of costs by the trial court. See U.S. Ind., Inc. v. Touche Ross & Co., 854 F.2d 1223, 1245 (10th Cir.1988). " 'We customarily defer to the District Court's judgment because an appellate court is not well suited to assess the course of litigation and the quality of counsel.' " Mares, 801 F.2d at 1200-01 (quoting Copeland v. Marshall, 641 F.2d 880, 901 (D.C.Cir.1980) (en banc)). The district court "saw 'the attorneys' work first hand,' " Poolaw v. City of Anadarko, 738 F.2d 364, 368 (10th Cir.1984) (quoting Higgins v. State ex. rel. Oklahoma Employment Sec. Comm'n, 642 F.2d 1199, 1203 (10th Cir.1981)), and " 'has far better means of knowing what is just and reasonable than an appellate court.' " Mares, 801 F.2d at 1201 (quoting Trustees v. Greenough, 105 U.S. 527, 26 L.Ed. 1157 (1882)).
Although the above cases refer to the deference given the trial court, our precedent does in fact limit that deference. Case law requires " 'the district court to provide a concise but clear explanation of its reasons for the fee award.' " Id. (quoting Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 437, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983)). "Such explanations must 'give us an adequate basis for review.' And, in reaching their determinations district courts must follow the guidelines established by the Supreme Court and this court." Id. (quoting Ramos v. Lamm, 713 F.2d 546, 552 (10th Cir.1983)).
Title 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b) provides that in certain federal civil rights actions, including those brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, "the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs." 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b). Along with the fees and expenses allowed under § 1988, a prevailing party in a civil rights action is normally entitled to costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. See Jane L. v. Bangerter, 61 F.3d 1505, 1517 (10th Cir.1995) (citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d)); Ramos, 713 F.2d at 560. A plaintiff who " 'succeed[ed] on any significant issue in litigation which achieves some of the benefit the parties sought in bringing the suit' " is a "prevailing party," Hensley, 461 U.S. at 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933 (quoting Nadeau v. Helgemoe, 581 F.2d 275, 278-79 (1st Cir.1978)), and the parties do not dispute that the plaintiffs in this case were prevailing parties under the statutes.
"To determine a reasonable attorneys fee, the district court must arrive at a 'lodestar' figure by multiplying the hours plaintiffs' counsel reasonably spent on the litigation by a reasonable hourly rate." Jane L., 61 F.3d at 1509. "[T]he fee applicant bears the burden of establishing entitlement to an award and documenting the appropriate hours expended and hourly rates." Mares, 801 F.2d at 1201 (quoting Hensley, 461 U.S. at 437, 103 S.Ct. 1933).
As to services provided by non-lawyers, if "law clerk and paralegal services are ... not reflected in the [attorney's fee], the court may award them separately as part of the fee for legal services. The court should scrutinize the reported hours and the suggested rates in the same manner it scrutinizes lawyer time and rates." Ramos, 713 F.2d at 558-59. Thus, under the rubric of 42 U.S.C. § 1988 "attorney's fees," the fees for attorneys, law clerks, and legal assistants are all determined in the same fashion: multiplying reasonable hours by reasonable rates to reach a "lodestar" amount.1. Reasonable Hours
Once the district court has adequate time records before it, it must then ensure that the winning attorneys have exercised " 'billing judgment.' " Ramos, 713 F.2d at 553 (quoting Copeland, 641 F.2d at 891). Billing judgment consists of winnowing the hours actually expended down to the hours reasonably expended. See id. Hours that an attorney would not properly bill to his or her client cannot reasonably be billed to the adverse party, making certain time presumptively unreasonable. See id. at 553-54 (giving as an example time spent doing background research).
In determining what is a reasonable time in which to perform a given task or to prosecute the litigation as a whole, the court should consider that what is reasonable in a particular case can depend upon facts such as the complexity of the case, the number of reasonable strategies pursued, and the responses necessitated by the maneuvering of the other side. Another factor the court should examine in determining the reasonableness of hours expended is the potential duplication of services. "For example, [if] three attorneys are present at a hearing when one would suffice, compensation should be denied for the excess time." ... The court can look to how many lawyers the other side utilized in similar situations as an indication of the effort required.
Id. at 554 (quoting Copeland, 641 F.2d at 891). The district court may also reduce the reasonable hours awarded if "the number [of compensable hours] claimed by counsel include[s] hours that were unnecessary, irrelevant and duplicative." Carter v. Sedgwick County, Kan., 36 F.3d 952, 956 (10th Cir.1994).
Because mandating that the district court identify hours reasonably expended by billing entry or litigation activity would, in many cases, be practically impossible, "[t]here is no requirement ... that district courts identify and justify each disallowed hour. Nor is their any requirement that district courts announce what hours are permitted for each legal task." Mares, 801 F.2d at 1202. In fact, in cases such as this one, in which the parties generated thousands of pages of written work product and the appellants submitted well over a hundred pages in billing statements with several entries per page, "[i]t is neither practical nor desirable to expect the trial court judge to have reviewed each paper in th[e] massive case file to decide, for example, whether a particular motion could have been done in 9.6 hours instead of 14.3 hours." Copeland, 641 F.2d at 903. Instead, "[a] general reduction of hours claimed in order to achieve what the court determines to be a reasonable number is not an erroneous method, so long as there is sufficient reason for its use." Mares, 801 F.2d at 1203.
While the parties may submit affidavits from experts regarding reasonableness of the hours billed, the practice is not very helpful when the testimony varies greatly. See Ramos, 713 F.2d at 555 n. 6. More important is the discretionary determination by the district court of how many hours, in its experience, should have been expended on the specific case, given the maneuverings of each side and the complexity of the facts, law, and litigation. See id. at 554.
The district court denied expenses incurred prior to recruiting the plaintiffs because "time spent and expenses incurred prior to [client recruitment] are generally not assessed to the client" and, therefore, are not appropriately charged to the opposing party. Aplts' App. vol. VII, at 2304 (Mem. and Order filed Sept. 6, 1996). We agree with this statement of the law and its application here. In some instances, such as when the litigation involves particularly difficult questions of standing, mootness, or ripeness, attorneys may be awarded time necessary to determine who should be the appropriate plaintiffs or whether the suit may even be brought. Pre-recruitment time also may be awarded where attorneys have done pre-recruitment work with an advocacy group representing a class. See Dowdell v. City of Apopka, Fla., 698 F.2d 1181, 1188 (11th Cir.1983) (holding that time billed after entering discussions with a local NAACP chapter but prior to recruiting local plaintiffs for a class action should be awarded because the local NAACP chapter was, in effect, a representative of the class). None of these situations was present in this case. Although standing was a hotly contested issue, the plaintiffs with standing were intuitively those who use a school library and, thus, could allege an injury: students and teachers. Nor does the national chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which was active in this case through Ms. Heins, play a community advocacy role comparable to that of the local NAACP chapter in Dowdell. It is our conclusion that in this case the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying hours billed prior to client recruitment.
c. Hours Billed Unsuccessfully Resisting Arguments Relating
The appellants ineffectively challenge this reduction in a footnote. See Aplts' Opening Br. at 28 n. 12. The district court did not reduce the fee simply because the appellants did not prevail on this issue, but rather because the billing records did not show which hours related to standing arguments and because the standing deficiencies, in the district court's judgment, were obvious. The district court was well within bounds to consider lack of success on the standing issues and its inability to segregate appellants' billing records for time spent on the issues to support a general reduction in time.
The district court ordered " 'a general reduction in hours ... to achieve what the court perceives to be a reasonable number,' " Aplts' App. vol. VII, at 2305 (quoting Carter, 36 F.3d at 956), reflected in reductions (1) for time spent in "conference" since the billing entries did not show how much time was spent in or what happened at conference and (2) for background research because " '[h]ours spent familiarizing oneself with the general area of law should be absorbed in the firm's overhead and not be billed to the client.' " Id. at 2306 (quoting Phelps v. Hamilton, 845 F.Supp. 1465, 1472 (D.Kan.1994), rev'd on other grounds, 76 F.3d 393, 1996 WL 50464 (10th Cir.1996)).
As we have already noted, there are legitimate cases in which a large general reduction in requested fees is warranted. See Mares v. Credit Bureau of Raton, 801 F.2d 1197 (10th Cir.1986). In Mares, however, we said such a reduction is permissible "so long as there is sufficient reason for its use." Id. at 1203. There, the district court specifically gave inexperience as the reason for eliminating a large portion of trial preparation time, and that finding was clearly supported since counsel had been in practice just a year when he took the case, conceded his lack of experience, and billed every hour logged. We also pointed out that counsel "failed entirely on his major theory of damage," "grossly overvalued what the case would warrant," and "[d]oubtless, he uselessly expended time on those theories." Id. at 1204. In short, the record supported both the type and the degree of the reductions made by the district court.
Unlike in Mares, the record in this case does not support the degree of the reductions made by the district court. The district court found that 510 hours were a reasonable number of hours for appellants to spend litigating a case in which defendants acknowledged billing 1,050 hours. Moreover, the 1,050 hours the defendants confessed did not include the hours spent on this litigation by the school district's regular attorney, who defended and took depositions, produced documents, met with and prepared witnesses, corresponded with appellants, and appeared at trial. Additionally, as we have already noted, this case concerned novel legal issues, which defendants vigorously litigated through motions to dismiss and for summary judgment and by disputing discovery so that motions to compel and sanctions were necessary. Again, we iterate that the defendants' hours are not a floor for the appellants' reasonable time because the defendants may have billed or litigated unreasonably. However, if this is to be the "rare case," supra at 1250-51, in which the district court is justified in awarding significantly fewer hours to plaintiff then proposed as reasonable by the losing defendant, the district court must give us a fuller explanation for its actions.
Here, the district court said nothing at all about why the hours spent by defendants' counsel are not relevant, nothing about the maneuvering necessitated by the defendants' litigation strategy, and so on. See City of Riverside v. Rivera, 477 U.S. 561, 580 n. 11, 106 S.Ct. 2686, 91 L.Ed.2d 466 (1986) ("the defendant cannot litigate tenaciously and then be heard to complain about the time necessarily spent by the plaintiff in response"); Ramos, 713 F.2d at 554 (noting that the district court "should consider that what is reasonable in a particular case can depend upon factors such as ... the responses necessitated by the maneuvering of the other side"). The district court did not say defendants billed or litigated unreasonably, but if defendants did, the court should tell us if, in its judgment, the appellants responded inappropriately to defendants' unreasonable efforts. Instead, the district court only mentioned three limited areas of this litigation as justification for throwing 80% of the appellants' fee request out the window.
Although the district court's order discussed several attorneys by name, it failed to mention Scott Nehrbass or Kevin Karpin, two attorneys who submitted bills for roughly 220 hours of work. We must assume that the district court inadvertently overlooked these attorneys. Consequently, we remand for the district court to grant attorney's fees for the reasonable number of hours spent by Mr. Nehrbass and Mr. Karpin on this case. See Bratcher v. Bray-Doyle Ind. Sch. Dist. No. 42, 8 F.3d 722, 726 (10th Cir.1993), and Smith v. Freeman, 921 F.2d 1120, 1124 (10th Cir.1990) (remanding for an initial determination of appropriate fee award when district court inadvertently failed to consider certain fee requests).
"An award of reasonable attorneys' fees may include compensation for work performed in preparing and presenting the fee application." Mares, 801 F.2d at 1205; and see Glass v. Pfeffer, 849 F.2d 1261, 1266 n. 3 (10th Cir.1988); Hernandez v. George, 793 F.2d 264, 269 (10th Cir.1986). However, the district court refused to reimburse appellants for any "[t]ime spent conducting research and drafting motions pertaining to attorney fee recovery" because "the time submitted by [appellants] for post-trial work is excessive." Aplts' App. vol. VII, at 2305.
At least four circuits have held that when a party submits a § 1988 attorney's fee request that is outrageously excessive, the court may respond by awarding no fees at all. See Environmental Defense Fund, Inc. v. Reilly, 1 F.3d 1254, 1258-60 (D.C.Cir.1993); Fair Housing Council v. Landow, 999 F.2d 92, 96-97 (4th Cir.1993); Lewis v. Kendrick, 944 F.2d 949, 958 (1st Cir.1991); Brown v. Stackler, 612 F.2d 1057, 1059 (7th Cir.1980). The reason for acting punitively when a party asks for fees that are outrageously excessive is to deter attorneys from "mak[ing] unreasonable demands, knowing that the only unfavorable consequence of such misconduct would be reduction of their fee to what they should have asked for in the first place." Stackler, 612 F.2d at 1059.
As we observed earlier, a district court following the applicable precedent will be given considerable deference in its determination of a reasonable attorney's fee. However, the case law reveals that a district court abuses its discretion when it ignores the parties' market evidence and sets an attorney's hourly rate using the rates it "consistently grant[s]." Aplts' App. vol VII, at 2307. Instead, the district court should base its hourly rate award on what the evidence shows the market commands for civil rights or analogous litigation. See Beard v. Teska, 31 F.3d 942, 955-57 (10th Cir.1994).
As the chart reflects, the appellants requested hourly rates of $240, $180, $100, and $90 based on attorney expertise as well as partnership and associate status. They also requested legal assistants' rates of $70, $65, and $50 an hour. With their rate request, the appellants submitted their own affidavits attesting that these are the rates they customarily charge. Mr. Waxse's affidavit, for example, suggests that he is highly experienced in the area of civil rights and analogous litigation. According to his affidavit, he has specialized since 1971 in the areas of employment litigation, constitutional law, and employee rights; he has authored several scholarly publications on civil rights and employment law issues; and he has been president of the Kansas Legal Services Corporation and is currently General Counsel for the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri. See Aplt.App. at 1857. Mr. Balloun's affidavit suggests that, while less experienced in civil rights cases, he is very experienced in areas of complex trial litigation that may be analogous to civil rights litigation. See id. at 1818. On the other hand, the associate who did much of the work in this case is a much less experienced lawyer. The appellants also submitted the affidavits of three other attorneys, one with years of experience in civil rights litigation, who confirmed that the appellants' rates were consistent with the rates charged by comparably skilled lawyers in the community. Importantly, two of the affiants also stated that the rates were comparable to those charged "in this type of litigation." Aplts' App. vol. VI, at 1881, 1892 (emphasis added).
In response, the defendants submitted the affidavit of an attorney who stated that he believed "the more appropriate award for this community on the issue of prevailing hourly rates" to be $150 an hour for partners, $90 to $100 an hour for associates, and $50 an hour for legal assistants. Aplts' App. vol. VII, at 2222. The affiant concluded, "In each instance, the hourly rate is intended to reflect the prevailing market rate for this community for the type of litigation and experience necessary for the prosecution of this case." Id. (emphasis added). However, in their brief, the defendants suggested that more appropriate rates were $135 an hour for partners, $85 an hour for associates, and $50 an hour for legal assistants. See id. at 2182-83. The defendants also submitted an affidavit showing that their partners billed $90 an hour, associates billed $80 an hour, and legal assistants billed $50 an hour, see id. at 2232, although they admitted that the school district's regular attorney, who did significant work on the case, billed $115 an hour, see id. at 2164 n. 2.
The district court abused its discretion in setting rates that ignored the market rate evidence before it. "The first step in setting a rate of compensation for the hours reasonably expended is to determine what lawyers of comparable skill and experience practicing in the area in which the litigation occurs would charge for their time." Ramos, 713 F.2d at 555. When a district court is presented with sworn affidavits from both parties that the market commands rates at a certain level, the court must elevate the dictates of the market above its customary rate. See Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 895, 104 S.Ct. 1541, 79 L.Ed.2d 891 (1984) ("The statute and legislative history establish that 'reasonable fees' under § 1988 are to be calculated according to the prevailing market rates in the relevant community...."); Beard, 31 F.3d at 955-57 (concluding that the district court erred in disregarding uncontroverted evidence of the local market rate and, instead, awarding the plaintiffs' attorney's customary rate). As Judge Posner wrote, "[i]t is the function of judges in fee litigation ... to determine what the lawyer would receive if he were selling his services in the market rather than being paid by court order.... The object in awarding a reasonable attorney's fee ... is to simulate the market where a direct market determination is infeasible." Steinlauf v. Continental Ill. Corp. (In re Continental Ill. Sec. Litig.), 962 F.2d 566, 568, 572 (7th Cir.1992); and see Blum, 465 U.S. at 895 n. 11, 104 S.Ct. 1541 (noting that determining the market rate is "inherently difficult" and providing some guidance as to method).
Requiring the district court to rely upon outside market evidence when setting hourly rates while granting it broad discretion to use its personal experience in determining the reasonable number of hours expended may seem contradictory. It is not. While the invisible hand of the market sets rates, it cannot grasp, in the way the district court can, the complexities of the litigation and the parties' work product. Additionally, the district court constantly produces legal product and manages trials and, therefore, is somewhat of an expert in the time that is required to conduct litigation; in contrast, the court does not regularly shop for legal services and does not necessarily have expertise in the rates charged by civil rights attorneys. Thus, the district court may stray outside the recommendations of the parties when awarding hours to prevailing attorneys because it knows best the time which reasonably should have been spent on the case. However, in order to comply with precedent, the district court must award rates compatible with competent, trustworthy evidence of the market. As long as its decision is grounded in appropriate market evidence, its ruling merits abuse-of-discretion deference from this court. Such evidence includes affidavits submitted by the parties and other reliable evidence of local market rates for civil rights litigation at the time fees are awarded.1
We have previously pointed out that "[a]lthough the rate charged by the losing counsel may be relevant in determining a reasonable hourly rate, we have discounted that information where ... the opposing counsel represents a governmental entity." Sussman v. Patterson, 108 F.3d 1206, 1212 (10th Cir.1997). This is because
Brooks v. Georgia State Bd. of Elections, 997 F.2d 857, 869 (11th Cir.1993) (quoting Norman v. Housing Auth. of the City of Montgomery, 836 F.2d 1292, 1300 (11th Cir.1988)); see also Malloy v. Monahan, 73 F.3d 1012, 1018-19 (10th Cir.1996) ("[a]ttorneys in defendants' civil rights cases are typically paid regardless of their success in a case and receive payment on a shorter billing cycle").
We do not mean to suggest that a plaintiff's attorney is automatically entitled to his or her normal market rate. Instead, the parties should submit, and the district court must consider, evidence of the hourly rate the attorneys would be able to charge if working in the civil rights field. See Ramos, 713 F.2d at 555. "Lawyers working outside their fields of expertise may deserve an hourly fee lower than their normal billing rate because of their lack of experience in the civil rights field.... The quality of the lawyer's performance in the case should also be considered." Id. at 555; cf. Pennsylvania v. Delaware Valley Citizens' Council for Clean Air, 478 U.S. 546, 566, 106 S.Ct. 3088, 92 L.Ed.2d 439 (1986) (holding that once the market rate has been set, it should not ordinarily be adjusted for quality of counsel because "the quality [of] ... representation [is] normally ... reflected in the reasonable hourly rate...."). Thus, the district court may lower the rates normally charged by attorneys who have not shown that they are experts in civil rights or analogous litigation, see Ramos, 713 F.2d at 555, and, therefore, could not command their normal hourly rates in the marketplace for that type of litigation. Conversely, the district court may also grant a rate higher than the attorney's traditional rate if the market so dictates. See Metz v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 39 F.3d 1482, 1493 (10th Cir.1994).
Only if the district court does not have before it adequate evidence of prevailing market rates may the court, in its discretion, use other relevant factors, including its own knowledge, to establish the rate. See Lucero v. City of Trinidad, 815 F.2d 1384, 1385 (10th Cir.1987) ("Absent other evidence of prevailing market rates the district court must rely on all relevant factors known to the court in establishing the reasonable rate to be applied ... to derive the 'lodestar' figure.") (emphasis added).
In this case, the appellants and the defendants submitted satisfactory, albeit contradictory, affidavits regarding rates for civil rights attorneys of similar skill and experience in the locality. The district court should have considered these affidavits and granted rates in accordance with any of them or arrived at a compromise among them, or, in the alternative, set the rates according to other competent market evidence. Using either method, the court must keep in mind the controlling principle, alluded to above, that its job ultimately is "to determine what the lawyer would receive if he were selling his services in the market rather than being paid by court order...." Steinlauf, 962 F.2d at 568. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's decision setting the rates for the attorneys and the legal assistants in this case. We remand for the district court to redetermine a reasonable hourly rate for each attorney and for the legal assistants under the guidelines we have articulated herein.
"For items not reimbursable as attorney's fees under § 1988, the general costs statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1920, is controlling. Section 1920 allows certain costs ... including ... '[f]ees for exemplification and copies of papers necessarily obtained for use in the case.' " Ramos, 713 F.2d at 560 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1920(4)) (emphasis added). "Of course, the burden is on the prevailing plaintiffs to establish the amount of compensable costs and expenses to which they are entitled. Prevailing parties necessarily assume the risks inherent in a failure to meet that burden." Mares, 801 F.2d at 1208.
The appellants claimed $11,391.60 in copying costs, all of which the district court denied because "[u]sing [appellant's] own figure of $0.16 per copy, this translates to 71,194 copies. The court finds this to be a grossly excessive number, and, accordingly, will award no recovery...." Aplts' App. vol. VII, at 2311. Perhaps recalling the Bard's aphorism that the better part of valor is discretion, the appellants have not attempted to justify on appeal the number of copies their cost request indicates. Rather, they have taken the fall-back position that the district court should merely have reduced the cost award to compensate them for a reasonable number of copies. See Aplts' Opening Br. 35. We disagree.
We have reviewed the 1997 Economic Survey of Kansas Lawyers found in Volume 66, Number 10 of the December 1997 Journal of the Kansas Bar Association and discussed by both parties in their supplemental authority and think that, had it been before the district court, it may have provided some evidence of market rates
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