Opinion ID: 557349
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Broughton's emotional distress claim

Text: 76 Although Mason County argues that Broughton cannot state a claim for emotional distress because he has not exhibited any objective symptoms of emotional distress, Washington law does not require physical manifestations in order to make an emotional distress claim. Contreras v. Crown Zellerbach, 88 Wash.2d 735, 741 n. 2, 565 P.2d 1173, 1176 n. 2 (1977) (quoting Grimsby v. Samson, 85 Wash.2d 52, 59, 530 P.2d 291, 295 (1975)). 77 Further, the jury had to evaluate defendants' behavior in this incident and determine whether it was so outrageous as to go beyond bounds of decency. Spurrell v. Bloch, 40 Wash.App. 854, 701 P.2d 529, 535, review denied, 104 Wash.2d 1014 (1985). After hearing testimony from Dr. Beaton that Broughton suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of seeing his uncle bloodied by the deputies and having a gun pointed at him, the jury decided in the affirmative the fact question of whether the defendants' behavior was so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency and be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community. Having so decided, the jury's verdict should stand.VI. Whether the district court erred in calculating 78 attorneys' fees. 79 A district court has broad discretion to grant attorneys' fees and costs. Thornberry v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 676 F.2d 1240, 1242 (9th Cir.1982), vacated on other grounds, 461 U.S. 952, 103 S.Ct. 2421, 77 L.Ed.2d 1311 (1983). We review its decision only for an abuse of discretion. Id. Due to the trial judge's familiarity with the litigation, review of the trial court's exercise of discretion in awarding attorneys' fees is narrow. Id. 80 Plaintiffs-appellees requested $575,658.13 in attorneys' fees and $99,201.63 in costs and expenses of litigation pursuant to the Attorney's Fees Awards Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988. The district court awarded $4,348.57 in costs pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1920, and $249,588.00 in attorneys' fees and $69,623.08 in expenses of litigation under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988. Mason County contests the award of expert witness fees, travel expenses, and attorneys' fees. A. Expert Witness Fees 81 The district court granted $29,217.18 for plaintiffs' expert witnesses, the largest element of expenses awarded. Mason County argues that payment of expert witness fees as expenses is precluded by the Supreme Court's decision in Crawford Fitting Co. v. J.T. Gibbons, Inc., 482 U.S. 437, 107 S.Ct. 2494, 96 L.Ed.2d 385 (1987). Crawford Fitting holds that when a prevailing party seeks reimbursement for fees paid to its own expert witnesses, a federal court is bound by the limit of [28 U.S.C.] Sec. 1821(b), absent contract or explicit statutory authority to the contrary. 482 U.S. at 439, 107 S.Ct. at 2496. 7 82 Plaintiffs originally contended that 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988 provides statutory authority for awarding expert witness fees greater than those allowed under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1821, a question left open in Crawford Fitting. See 482 U.S. at 445, 107 S.Ct. at 2499 (Blackmun, J., concurring) (I join the Court's opinion and its judgment but upon the understanding that it does not reach the question whether, under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988, a district court may award fees for an expert witness.). In our opinion filed March 12, 1991, we held that, consistent with the majority of circuit courts to consider the issue, section 1988 allows a prevailing plaintiff to recover reasonable expert witness fees regardless of the limits of 28 U.S.C. Secs. 1821 and 1920. 8 But after the opinion was filed the Supreme Court in West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc. v. Casey, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 1138, 113 L.Ed.2d 68 (March 19, 1991), reached the opposite conclusion. The Court held that [42 U.S.C.] Sec. 1988 conveys no authority to shift expert fees. --- U.S. at ----, 111 S.Ct. at 1148. 83 In their motion to modify our March 12, 1991 opinion, plaintiffs now concede that, under Casey, the district court's award of expert witness fees cannot stand. Under Casey, the district court may not use section 1988 as a basis to award expert witness fees in excess of the limits imposed by 28 U.S.C. Secs. 1821 and 1920. We remand to the district court with instructions to modify the award of expert witness fees consistent with Casey.B. Travel Expenses 84 Mason County contends that costs other than expert witness fees should also be limited to those available under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1920. The only costs disputed below were travel expenses. Because this court will not consider issues not raised below, our review will be limited to travel expenses. See Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers Union v. Murdock, 861 F.2d 1406, 1420 (9th Cir.1988). 85 Mason County fails to see that like the expert witness fees, the travel expenses were not granted as costs under section 1920, but rather as out-of-pocket expenses, compensable under section 1988. Courts have generally held that expenses incurred during the course of litigation which are normally billed to fee-paying clients should be taxed under section 1988. Dowdell v. City of Apopka, 698 F.2d 1181, 1190 (11th Cir.1983); Palmigiano v. Garrahy, 707 F.2d 636, 637 (1st Cir.1983); Northcross v. Board of Educ., 611 F.2d 624, 639 (6th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 447 U.S. 911, 100 S.Ct. 2999, 3000, 64 L.Ed.2d 862 (1980). As the Eleventh Circuit said in Dowdell: 86 Reasonable attorneys' fees under the [Attorney's Fees Awards] Act must include reasonable expenses because attorneys' fees and expenses are inseparably intertwined as equally vital components of the costs of litigation. The factually complex and protracted nature of civil rights litigation frequently makes it necessary to make sizeable out-of-pocket expenditures which may be as essential to success as the intellectual skills of the attorneys. If these costs are not taxable, and the client, as is often the case, cannot afford to pay for them, they must be borne by counsel, reducing the fees award correspondingly. 87 698 F.2d at 1190. Thus, following the reasoning adopted in upholding the award of expert witness fees, we also affirm the district court's award of travel expenses pursuant to section 1988. 88 However, it is unclear why the district court granted $12,845.25 for travel expenses as part of the $249,588.00 attorneys' fees, and $4,135.83 for travel expenses as part of the $69,623.08 award for expenses of litigation. Because the award of travel expenses may have been double-counted, we remand on this issue.