Opinion ID: 156986
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Hours Billed Prior to Recruiting the Plaintiffs

Text: 26 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. 27