Opinion ID: 759223
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Fees for Services Between the Second and Third Trials

Text: 118 With respect to the nearly two-year period between the end of the second trial and the commencement of the third trial, Gierlinger sought fees for 206.1 hours of services by Pottle. Those services included making a motion to recuse Judge Elfvin, who had said, also sua sponte, that he would recuse himself but then took no action to do so; responding to and making in limine motions with respect to the evidence to be presented at the third trial; responding to a motion to dismiss the Title VII claims in light of this Court's May 1995 decision in Tomka v. Seiler Corp., 66 F.3d 1295; and preparing for the third trial. The court allowed only 80 hours for this work, stating as follows: 119 For the period August 23, 1994 to August 11, 1996 Pottle seeks compensation for 206.1 hours spent preparing and arguing the plaintiff's motion for the undersigned's recusal, preparing the plaintiff's and responding to the defendant's pretrial motions and arguing such and otherwise preparing for trial. Such amount is excessive and repetitive and will be reduced to 80 hours. 120 Posttrial Order at 12 (footnotes omitted). It appears that the court did not disallow the time spent on the recusal motion, for the court stated that [s]uch motion had substantial support in the undersigned's own declaration, at the time he declared the mistrial, that he probably would recuse himself. Id. n. 5. 121 Gierlinger infers that, because the district court singled out the recusal motion in this way, the court must have disallowed all preparation for trial and addressing pretrial motions. (Gierlinger brief on appeal at 11.) We reject this interpretation, since the court allowed fees for 80 hours, whereas Pottle's time records show only 3.9 hours devoted to the recusal motion. We think it likely that the court disallowed all time spent in preparation for the third trial, since it had expressly refused to allow fees for preparation for the second trial. Disallowance of reasonable trial preparation time with respect to the third trial was an abuse of discretion for reasons similar to those stated in Part III.B.2. above. The interval between the second and third trial was nearly two years. Some trial preparation time was necessary. It is not possible, however, to know which other services the court found reasonable and which it found unreasonable, for, except for the statement quoted above, the court provided no explanation. We therefore remand to the district court for the award of a reasonable fee for time spent preparing for the third trial, and for an explanation as to any other time the court viewed as excessive and repetitive. 122