Opinion ID: 4020402
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: NEOCH Motion to Modify the Decree

Text: On June 20, 2012, while Defendants’ request to vacate the Decree was still pending, the NEOCH Plaintiffs filed a motion to modify the Decree to prevent further constitutional violations, including alleged equal protection problems caused by counties’ application of disparate standards in implementing the Decree. The NEOCH Plaintiffs asked the court to expand the Decree to protect all Ohio voters who cast “correct location, wrong precinct” ballots, not just SSN-4 voters. C. SEIU Local 1 Motion for Preliminary Injunction On June 22, 2012, a separate group of Plaintiffs, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs), represented by some overlapping counsel, filed a separate action alleging that Ohio’s strict application of the disqualification rules to ballot deficiencies caused by poll-worker error violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses. The SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs also alleged that the Decree’s preferential treatment of SSN-4 wrong-precinct ballots violated equal protection. Finally, the SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs sought relief for voters who failed to properly sign ballot affirmations (deficientaffirmation ballots). The SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction, arguing that the Ohio election laws burdened the fundamental right to vote and did not serve sufficient state interests. The SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs proposed “remaking” wrong-precinct provisional ballots to cast only “upballot” votes, or votes in eligible races. Because the two cases were similar and sought parallel relief, the district court deemed them related, and on June 27, 2012, heard joint arguments on the NEOCH Plaintiffs’ motion to modify and the SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 7 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 D. District Court Rulings on SEIU Local 1 Preliminary Injunction Motion and NEOCH Motion to Modify On August 27, 2012, the district court issued a preliminary injunction in SEIU Local 1 v. Husted, ordering Defendants to count all wrong-precinct provisional ballots unless there was affirmative evidence that the poll worker properly performed his or her duties, and to count all provisional ballots with technical errors in the ballot envelope. (Aug. 27, 2012 Op. or “Plenary Op. & Order”). The district court’s 58-page Plenary Opinion and Order premised injunctive relief upon three likely equal protection violations and a likely due process violation. NEOCH, 696 F.3d at 585. First, the district court addressed the equal protection claim based on wrong-precinct ballots caused by poll-worker error. This court described the proceedings in the district court: Beginning with the SEIU plaintiffs’ wrong-precinct ballots claim, the court found reliable evidence that Ohio’s county election boards disqualified thousands of wrong-precinct ballots in each of Ohio’s three most recent elections. Specifically, the court found that Ohio rejected more than 14,000 wrong-precinct ballots in 2008 and 11,000 more in 2010, with wrong-precinct rejections occurring in the vast majority of Ohio counties. (Plenary Op. & Order at 26 & n.28, 27 (counting 14,335 wrong-precinct rejections in 2008 and 11,775 in 2010).) And in the mid-cycle election of 2011, which involved no federal races, Ohio kept specific data regarding right-place/wrong-precinct ballots revealing that Ohio disqualified more than 1,800 such ballots. But for the consent decree entered in the NEOCH litigation, Ohio would have disqualified another 1,500 such ballots. (Id. at 25–26 (finding that Ohio disqualified 1,826 of 3,380 right-place/wrongprecinct ballots in 2011).) This data led the court to conclude that “[w]hile the number and frequency of wrong-precinct ballot disqualifications vary county to county, the problem as a whole is systemic and statewide.” (Id. at 26.) The court noted that “[m]uch of the factual basis upon which the Court relies for its findings is uncontested, or has already been established by this Court or the courts in [the Hunter litigation].” (Id. at 25.) Though the Secretary did not dispute the accuracy of these statistics, it challenged their relevance in light of recent efforts to improve Ohio’s provisional ballot system. The Secretary also argued that reasons other than poll-worker error may have caused some of the wrong-precinct ballots. The district court rejected these arguments, citing the failure of previous state directives and the absence of evidence that voters disobeyed poll-worker instructions regarding voting precincts. “No party,” it stated, “has identified a single example, from the past Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 8 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 four years’ elections, of a wrong-precinct provisional ballot being cast because the voter refused to vote in the correct precinct.” (Id. at 29.) Invoking poll workers’ statutory mandate to direct voters to the correct precinct and inform them that wrong-precinct votes will not count, see O.R.C. § 3505.181(C)(1), the district court reasoned, “It is common sense that no rational voter who arrives at the correct polling place would ever refuse to cast a provisional ballot in the correct precinct. . . .” (Plenary Op. & Order at 29.) “Based on the record evidence provided thus far,” the court concluded that “Plaintiffs ha[d] established a strong likelihood that thousands of lawfully-registered voters will be completely deprived of their right to vote under Ohio Rev. Code § 3505.183(B)(4)(a)(ii) in the upcoming election because of poll-worker error.” (Id. at 30.) NEOCH, 696 F.3d at 586. The district court then weighed this burden against the state interests justifying the automatic disqualification of wrong-precinct provisional ballots under the balancing test established by Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780, 789 (1983), and Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U.S. 428, 434 (1992). Defendants relied on the “significant and numerous” advantages of the precinct voting system articulated in Sandusky County Democratic Party v. Blackwell, 387 F.3d 565, 569 (6th Cir. 2004) (per curiam): (1) capping the number of voters at a polling place, (2) limiting the precinct ballot to applicable elections, (3) making the precinct ballot less confusing, (4) simplifying election administration, and (5) allowing the state to place polling locations closer to voter residences. NEOCH, 696 F.3d at 586-87. The district court found these factors inapposite to the facts at hand or unsupported by the record evidence. The district court also determined that Ohio’s disqualification of right-place/wrong-precinct provisional ballots constituted invidious discrimination because “the restriction bore no relation to those voters’ qualifications.” Id. at 587. Second, the district court considered the equal protection argument based on deficientaffirmation ballots caused by poll-worker error. The court attributed these deficiencies, including missing or misplaced printed names or signatures, to poll-worker error “because it is the poll worker’s duty to ensure that provisional ballots are cast with a validly completed ballot envelope and affirmation.” Id. (citing Plenary Op. & Order at 43 (citing O.R.C. §§ 3505.181(B)(2)-(3), 3505.182)). The court found the State’s proposed interests in rejecting Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 9 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 ballots with these affirmation deficiencies—the same Sandusky interests discussed above— insufficient to support the burden on these voters. Id. at 587-88. Third, the district court evaluated the equal protection argument based on the Decree’s preferential treatment of SSN-4 ballots. We noted that the district court agreed with the SEIU plaintiffs that Ohio’s differential treatment of wrong-precinct ballots, depending on the form of identification used to cast the ballot, violated equal protection. Recognizing that the NEOCH consent decree provided a different vote-counting standard for SSN–4 provisional ballots (allowing a chance to prove poll-worker error and have the vote counted) and all other provisional ballots (not), the court inquired whether state interests justified the preferential treatment. The State—by now seeking to vacate the consent decree—offered none, and the court agreed, finding “[t]here is no reason for treating provisional ballots differently based on the type of identification used.” (Id. at 49.) Id. at 588. Fourth, the district court addressed the due process argument based on wrong-precinct ballots caused by poll-worker error. We observed that “the [district] court adopted dicta from the post-remand judgment in the Hunter litigation that Ohio’s strict disqualification of deficient ballots, regardless of poll-worker error, rendered the election system ‘fundamentally unfair,’ in violation of due process.” Id. (citing Hunter v. Hamilton Cty. Bd. of Elections, 850 F. Supp. 2d 795, 847 (S.D. Ohio 2012)). Thus, “[r]elying on the same evidence discussed in the equal protection claims,” the district court found a strong likelihood of success in the SEIU Local Plaintiffs’ due process claim. Id. The district court therefore concluded that the equitable factors warranted the grant of a preliminary injunction requiring the Secretary to count correct-location/wrong-precinct and deficient-affirmation provisional ballots unless the State could prove that the poll worker advised the voter to cast the ballot in the correct precinct and the voter refused. Id. Because the preliminary injunction in SEIU Local 1 v. Husted granted the same equitable relief requested by the NEOCH Plaintiffs’ motion to modify, the district court stayed the Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 10 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 NEOCH Plaintiffs’ motion to modify the decree as moot, subject to renewal if warranted for good cause. E. This Court’s Expedited Appeals from Denial of Motion to Vacate theNEOCH Decree and the SEIU Local 1 Preliminary Injunction Defendants appealed the denial of the motion to vacate the NEOCH Decree and the SEIU Local 1 preliminary injunction. This court expedited briefing in both appeals—which were not consolidated—and ordered an expedited telephonic oral argument to be held on October 1, 2012. On October 11, 2012, another panel of this court affirmed the district court’s denial of Defendants’ request to vacate the NEOCH Decree and the grant of the SEIU Local 1 preliminary injunction requiring Defendants to count provisional ballots cast in the correct-location/wrongprecinct due to poll worker error. See id.at 584. This court reversed the SEIU Local 1 ballot affirmation injunction. See id. 1. SEIU Local 1 Preliminary Injunction In SEIU Local 1, this court affirmed the wrong-precinct provision of the preliminary injunction, holding that automatic disqualification of wrong-precinct/right-location most likely violated equal protection and substantive due process. Id. at 591-99. We “agree[d] on all counts” with the district court’s identification of “three strands of likely constitutional violations related to the wrong-precinct ballots”: “the unreasonableness and fundamental unfairness of disqualifying wrong-precinct ballots caused by poll-worker error (equal protection and due process), and the disparate treatment of deficient provisional ballots under the consent decree (equal protection).” Id. at 591. First, we agreed that the Anderson-Burdick standard applied because the SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs had demonstrated that their right to vote was burdened by Ohio’s automatic disqualification rule for all wrong-precinct voters in violation of equal protection. We explained: Here, the district court identified a substantial burden on provisional voters. The court’s factual findings detail Ohio’s “systemic” disqualification of thousands of wrong-precinct provisional ballots and a strong likelihood that the majority of these miscast votes result from poll-worker error. . . . Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 11 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 Though the district court did not make specific factual findings regarding the incidence of poll-worker error, it found such error evident in poll workers’ statutory duty to direct voters to the correct polling place. See O.R.C. § 3505.181(C)(1). . . . The court also cited the proliferation of multi-precinct polling locations in Ohio’s counties as increasing the likelihood of poll-worker error causing right-place/wrong-precinct ballots. (See Plenary Op. & Order at 6 n.10 (finding, as of the 2012 primaries, shared-polling place rates for the following counties’ election precincts: Butler, 95%; Cuyahoga, 94%; Greene, 100%; Franklin County, 68%; Lorain, 90%; Montgomery, 88%; Stark County, 71%).) In addition to these findings, the SEIU plaintiffs presented voluminous evidence that poll workers give voters wrong-precinct ballots for a number of reasons, ranging from misunderstanding counties’ precinct location guides to failing to understand the vote-disqualifying ramifications of handing out wrongprecinct ballots. Id. at 593-94. By contrast, Defendants failed to present evidence to the district court or this court demonstrating that other factors besides poll-worker error caused wrong-precinct ballots. Id.at 594. “Given this record and the clear legal duty imposed on poll workers by Ohio law,” we found “no clear error with the district court’s factual conclusion that most right-place/wrongprecinct ballots result, and will continue to result, from poll-worker error.” Id. at 594-95. We also held that although the Sandusky factors reflected the state’s legitimate interests in maintaining a precinct-based system, the State failed to show how these interests supported the restriction at issue. Id. at 595-97. Next, we held that the voter burden identified by the SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs also supported the district court’s finding of a probable due process violation. Id. at 597. We observed that “[t]he SEIU plaintiffs have shown, and the State does not deny, that poll-worker error causes thousands of qualified voters to cast wrong-precinct ballots from the correct polling locations.” Id. Accepting Defendants’ argument that a due process violation requires intentional conduct, we nonetheless found sufficient indicia of purposeful conduct in the State’s intent to enforce its strict disqualification rules without exception, despite the systemic poll-worker error identified in this litigation and others. Hunter shed light on this problem last year, Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 12 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 but the State persisted in its position. In light of the well-documented problem of wrong-precinct provisional ballots caused by poll-worker error, resulting in the rejection of thousands of provisional ballots each year, we have no basis on which to disagree with the district court’s finding of a likely due process violation. Id. at 597-98. Third, we agreed with the parties and the district court that, by providing a remedy only for SSN-4 voters, the Decree “likely violate[d] the equal protection principle recognized in Bush v. Gore, [531 U.S. 98 (2000)].” Id. at 598. We held that the SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs’ equal protection claim “squarely raises the statewide disparity inherent in the terms of the consent decree: its preferential treatment of SSN–4 provisional ballots.” Id. Thus, consistent with Hunter, we affirmed the district court’s finding that the Decree’s different treatment of similarly situated provisional ballots likely violated equal protection. Id. We further held that the injunctive relief was narrowly tailored to the harm identified: denial of the fundamental right to vote based on the automatic disqualification of right-place/wrong-precinct votes based on pollworker error. Id. at 599. On the other hand, this court rejected the district court’s finding of a likely equal protection violation based solely on the unreasonableness of disqualifying deficient-affirmation ballots caused by poll-worker error, “[b]ecause the spotty record and Ohio law” did not support the district court’s presumption of poll-worker error. Id. Furthermore, the ballot affirmation deficiencies stemmed from “voters’ failure to follow the form’s rather simple instructions.” Id. Thus, because the SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of the deficient-affirmation claim, we reversed the preliminary injunction remedy on this point. Id. at 600. 2. NEOCH Decree In NEOCH, this court held that Rule 60(b) applied to Defendants’ request to vacate the Decree and that Defendants had not met their burden under that rule. Id. at 600-03. Defendants argued that Rule 60(b) did not apply because the Decree violated Ohio law and was therefore void under Rule 60(b). We rejected this argument because Defendants did not allege or show a Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 13 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 “jurisdictional error” or “a violation of due process” that would justify relief under Rule 60(b)(4). Id. at 601. We also rejected Defendants’ argument that the provision allowing the parties to modify the agreement “for good cause shown” waived the strictures of Rule 60(b). We noted that, although a consent decree is somewhat contractual in nature, it is still subject to Rule 60(b) because it is nonetheless a judicial decree. Id. The term “good cause shown” did not change that fact. Id. at 601-02. This court also rejected Defendants’ position that the Decree was not a final judgment given the Decree’s explicit statement that is “final and binding” as to the “matters resolved in this Decree.” Id. at 602. Having decided Rule 60(b) applied, we held that Defendants did not meet the requirements of Rule 60(b)(5) because they failed to demonstrate a significant change in circumstances making the Decree unworkable or detrimental to the public interest. Id. at 603. Finally we noted that, because the court had set aside the portion of the preliminary injunction addressing deficient-affirmation provisional ballots, and the Decree continued to mandate that some deficient-affirmation provisional ballots be counted, a potential equal protection problem existed under Bush v. Gore. Id. at 603-04. Furthermore, the Decree “standing on its own” also raised Bush v. Gore issues in treating some provisional ballots differently than others. Id. at 604. This concern was “not purely academic,” because the Decree was “the only agreement governing these issues for Ohio’s 2013 primary elections.” Id. We therefore remanded for the district court to consider in the first instance whether the Decree should be modified to address the discrepancy created by the Decree between different sets of provisional ballots. Id. 3. Remand On remand, Plaintiffs obtained a separate preliminary injunction requiring Ohio to count wrong-location/wrong-precinct provisional ballots that resulted from poll-worker error, but this court issued an emergency stay pending appeal of the order. Serv. Emps. Int’l Union Local 1 v. Husted, 698 F.3d 341, 343 (6th Cir. 2012) [hereinafter SEIU Local 1] (per curiam). The appeal was later dismissed as moot after the 2012 election. SEIU Local 1 v. Husted, 531 F. App’x 755, 755 (6th Cir. 2013). The district court also granted Defendants’ motion to vacate the Decree’s affirmation provision. Plaintiffs did not appeal that decision. Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 14 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 F. 2013 Proceedings On June 10, 2013, some of the NEOCH Plaintiffs moved to modify the Decree. The district court ordered expedited briefing. Initially Plaintiffs sought an indefinite extension, and later, in the alternative, sought an extension for two presidential cycles, or eight years. On August 5, 2013, the district court granted the motion, extending the Decree until December 31, 2016, one election cycle. (Aug. 5, 2013 Op.). First, it concluded that when they entered the Decree, the parties did not foresee that the voting rights of SSN-4 voters would still not be guaranteed after the Decree terminated in June 2013. Second, it found an extension until December 31, 2016, was suitably tailored to ensure the counting of valid SSN-4 voters in the next election cycle. The court relied on new record evidence from the 2012 election that established the additional burden placed on boards of elections during presidential elections and the accompanying risk of disenfranchisement of SSN-4 voters. Defendants did not appeal that decision. On July 1, 2013, the SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs filed a motion for a permanent injunction that would require the counting of correct-location/ wrong-precinct ballots based on this court’s decision affirming the preliminary injunction, the evidence supporting that injunction, and supplemental evidence regarding the 2012 election. Defendants did not object to converting the preliminary injunction to a summary judgment. On July 9, 2013, the court granted summary judgment and issued a permanent injunction. (July 9, 2013 Op.) Defendants did not appeal. G. Attorneys’ Fees Motions and Awards This brings us to the district court decision at issue in the present appeal.3 As noted, the district court’s award and this appeal jointly address fees in the NEOCH and SEIU Local 1 cases.4 3 Plaintiffs have already received fees for work prior to the Decree and for negotiating the Decree. See NEOCH v. Sec. of State of Ohio, 695 F.3d 563 (6th Cir. 2012). 4 The district court issued the same opinion in both cases. It is dated September 29, 2014 (Sept. 29, 2014 Op.). They are docketed at Doc. 426 in NEOCH, Case No. 2:06-cv-896, and Doc. 140 in SEIU Local 1, Case No. 2:12-cv-00562. Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 15 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 1. The Attorneys In the NEOCH case, Plaintiffs NEOCH and the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) were represented by Dayton and Columbus, Ohio counsel of Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, LLP, as well as The Chandra Law Firm LLC, of Cleveland, Ohio. Lead attorneys were Caroline Gentry of Porter Wright and Subodh Chandra of The Chandra Law Firm, along with Sandhya Gupta. The Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) was represented by McTigue, McGinnis & Colombo, LLC, of Columbus, Ohio. Donald McTigue acted as lead counsel and Mark McGinnis as junior counsel. Plaintiff SEIU Local 1199 was represented by Altshuler Berzon LLP, of San Francisco, California, and by Hunter, Carnahan, Shoub, Byard & Harshman, of Columbus, Ohio. Altshuler Berzon billed for nine attorneys. Stephen Berzon acted as lead counsel, while Danielle Leonard and Barbara Chisolm argued the cases. The NEOCH Plaintiffs billed 2,357.85 hours, with requested rates ranging from $215/hour to $750/hour. They requested a total of $967,593.25 in fees. The NEOCH Plaintiffs also submitted a separate fee motion for the 2013 Decree extension. In the SEIU Local 1 case, SEIU Local 1 and the other union plaintiffs were also represented by Altshuler Berzon and Hunter Carnahan. Hunter Carnahan also represented the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC). NEOCH, CCH, and ODP were parties only in the NEOCH case, not in SEIU Local 1. The SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs billed 3,641.13 hours at rates ranging from $300/hour to $750/hour. They requested a total of $1,383,436.75 in fees. 2. The Motions The NEOCH Plaintiffs who had moved to extend the Decree through 2016 moved for fees for that work on October 21, 2013. On December 12, 2013, all SEIU Local 1 and the NEOCH Plaintiffs moved for fees in both cases (1) for work performed in 2012 and 2013 defending the Decree, (2) obtaining preliminary and then permanent injunctive relief prohibiting disqualification of wrong-precinct/right-location ballots, and (3) the appeal of those decisions. Plaintiffs did not seek fees for work performed concerning the wrong-location or deficient-affirmation issues. Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 16 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 3. The District Court’s Award On September 29, 2014, the district court issued an order granting Plaintiffs’ motions for fees in both cases, but it eliminated some time and reduced some of the requested rates. (Sept. 29, 2014 Op.). The court limited “fees for fees” hours to 3% of the time on the main cases.
The court found that, with certain exceptions, all of the hours submitted were reasonably expended: Both NEOCH and SEIU Plaintiffs have provided the Court with extensive and detailed documentation of their hours, supported by affidavits of counsel related to billing entries, efforts to exclude excessive or redundant hours, and general exercise of billing judgment. The Court finds that Plaintiffs have submitted documentation containing sufficient detail and probative value to enable it to determine that the hours recorded were actually and reasonably expended in this action, with certain exceptions explained below. Id. at 6. The district court specifically stated that it had reviewed the time sheets and declarations of each of the attorneys. Id. at 6-7. Regarding the 2013 extension of the Decree, the court observed that the NEOCH Plaintiffs were required to review and analyze the lengthy record and docket of a seven-year-old case, numerous provisions of the Ohio Revised Code, parallel and related litigation, in addition to substantive legal research, analysis, and strategy. As the Court noted at the time, the legal issues around extending the Decree were complex and unsettled . . . and the briefing scheduled was expedited and required intense engagement by all parties. Id. at 8. Regarding the 2012 work to defend and modify the Decree, the court initially noted that at least 23 attorneys, as well as paralegals and law clerks, worked on this stage of the litigation. The court found that Plaintiffs engaged in multiple avenues of defense in order to protect the Decree, including to enjoin the collateral attack on the decree and move for civil contempt; preparing on an expedited basis to intervene at the Ohio Supreme Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 17 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 Court; defending the Decree against Defendants’ motion to vacate; and moving to modify the Decree. Id. Regarding the SEIU Plaintiffs’ work in obtaining preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, the court recognized that Plaintiffs achieved court orders preventing the disenfranchisement of thousands of Ohio voters in 2012 and thereafter; the work required them to attack novel and complex issues of constitutional law, and required them to collect and analyze thousands of pages of evidence showing Ohio’s violations of voters’ rights. Id. The district court rejected Defendants’ allegations that the hours expended in “researching, drafting, editing, and consulting are too great,” stating “Defendants invoke a phantom specter” because their “conclusory allegations that the award was excessive and . . . counsel employed poor billing judgment” did not establish that the fees were unwarranted. Id. at 9 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The court added that “Defendants can hardly be heard to complain about the number of hours expended by Plaintiffs, when they themselves engaged in a vigorous opposition to the Decree at nearly every phase of this litigation.” Id. The court then addressed Defendants’ other objections, including attorneys’ fees for the NEOCH Plaintiffs’ mediation costs, travel, fees for fees, SEIU Plaintiffs’ certification motion, the NEOCH motion to modify the consent decree, and the NEOCH motion for contempt. In each instance the court rejected Defendants’ arguments that the hours billed were excessive.
In assessing rates, the district court considered the customary rates of Plaintiffs’ counsel, fee awards in analogous cases, and other evidence. The average rate awarded was $378/hour. Twenty-one rates were $300/hour or more, ten rates were $425/hour or more, and one attorney was awarded $600/hour. Law clerks received between $125/hour and $150/hour. Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 18 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381
The court found that since nearly all of Plaintiffs’ hours of attorney work were reasonable, their requested costs were also reasonable and appropriate. In total, the district court allowed billing for 6,147 hours and awarded $2,227,179.90 in fees and costs.