Opinion ID: 199075
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Constitutionality of the Fee Cap.

Text: 25 We turn next to the constitutionality of the PLRA's cap on attorneys' fees. Two of our sister circuits recently have addressed the same general question. The Ninth Circuit has upheld the cap against a constitutional challenge. See Madrid v. Gomez, 190 F.3d 990, 996 (9th Cir. 1999). The Third Circuit, sitting en banc, split evenly on the issue. See Collins v. Montgomery County Bd. of Prison Inspectors, 176 F.3d 679, 686 (3d Cir. 1999) (en banc), cert. denied, 120 S. Ct. 932 (2000). This court has not yet spoken to the question. 26 Like the challengers in Madrid and Collins, Boivin grounds his claim of unconstitutionality in concepts of equal protection. See supra note 2. The centerpiece of his argument is that section 1997e(d)(2) treats prisoner civil rights litigants differently from all other civil rights litigants: whereas a non-prisoner civil rights litigant who wins only a nominal damage award can receive substantial attorneys' fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, see, e.g., Wilcox v. City of Reno, 42 F.3d 550, 557 (9th Cir. 1994) (affirming award of $66,535 in attorneys' fees to section 1983 plaintiff who had secured a $1.00 damage award), the fee cap deprives a prevailing prisoner civil rights litigant of the possibility of any comparable emolument. 27 In light of the Supreme Court's recent pronouncement in Farrar, the contrast that Boivin seeks to depict may be more apparent than real. See 506 U.S. at 115 (When a plaintiff recovers only nominal damages because of his failure to prove an essential element of his claim for monetary relief, the only reasonable fee is usually no fee at all. (citation omitted)). Leaving that point to one side, the first step in evaluating his claim is to determine the appropriate level of scrutiny. We take that step and then proceed to the constitutional question. 28 1. The Level of Scrutiny. Typically, a law will withstand an equal protection challenge if it bears a rational relationship to a legitimate governmental end. See Vacco v. Quill, 521 U.S. 793, 799 (1997). This level of scrutiny intensifies, however, if the law infringes a fundamental right or involves a suspect classification. See id. Boivin puts forth two reasons why the PLRA fee cap, which draws a line between prisoners and non-prisoners, should receive such heightened scrutiny. First, he declares that prisoners are a suspect class. Second, he maintains that the fee cap impermissibly burdens the fundamental right of access to the courts. 29 We need not linger long over Boivin's first suggestion. From a constitutional standpoint, prisoners simply are not a suspect class. See Webber v. Crabtree, 158 F.3d 460, 461 (9th Cir. 1998) (per curiam) (holding that prisoners are not a suspect class); Zehner v. Trigg, 133 F.3d 459, 463 (7th Cir. 1997) (calling the idea that prisoners constitute a suspect class completely unsupported). Thus, heightened scrutiny cannot be justified on this basis. 30 Boivin's second suggestion requires a somewhat longer answer. It is axiomatic that prisoners have a constitutionally-protected right of meaningful access to the courts. See Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 821 (1977). This means that prisoners must have a reasonably adequate opportunity to bring before the courts claims that their constitutional rights have been violated. See id. at 825. To ensure this opportunity, correctional authorities must assist inmates in the preparation and filing of meaningful legal papers by providing prisoners with adequate law libraries or adequate assistance from persons trained in the law. Id. at 828, distinguished by Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 351 (1996). Boivin asserts that, without counsel, prisoners have little chance of meaningfully presenting their claims to the courts, and that the PLRA fee cap therefore interferes with the right of access by destroying the only real incentive for lawyers to take prisoners' civil rights cases. 31 Boivin's arguments are wrong on the law. The constitutionally-protected right of access to the courts is narrow in scope. See Lewis, 518 U.S. at 360 (explaining that constitutional concerns are satisfied as long as prisoners receive the minimal help necessary to present legal claims). To illustrate, the right of access to the courts does not extend to enabling prisoners to litigate with maximum effectiveness once in court. See id. at 354. Similarly, the right of access to the courts does not require the provision of counsel in civil cases. See Lassiter v. Department of Soc. Servs., 452 U.S. 18, 26-27 (1981); DesRosiers v. Moran, 949 F.2d 15, 23 (1st Cir. 1991). A statute which, like section 1997e(d)(2), does nothing more than limit the availability of an attorney paid for by the target of a prisoner's suit does not implicate the right of access to the courts in any cognizable way. Cf. Rouse, 129 F.3d at 660 (explaining that while there is a constitutional right to court access, there is no complementary constitutional right to receive or be eligible for a particular form of relief). 32 Boivin's arguments also are wrong on the facts. First and foremost, the suggestion that prisoners who proceed pro se do not have a meaningful opportunity to prosecute their claims is highly debatable. While pro se litigants are not exempt from procedural rules, courts are solicitous of the obstacles that they face. Consequently, courts hold pro se pleadings to less demanding standards than those drafted by lawyers. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520 (1972) (per curiam); Instituto de Educacion Universal Corp. v. United States Dep't of Educ., 209 F.3d 18, 23 (1st Cir. 2000). By the same token, courts endeavor, within reasonable limits, to guard against the loss of pro se claims due to technical defects. See, e.g., Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep't, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1990). The net result is that pro se litigants sometimes enjoy stunning success. See Jon O. Newman, Pro Se Prisoner Litigation: Looking for Needles in Haystacks, 62 Brook. L. Rev. 519, 519 n.2 (1996) (collecting representative cases in which prisoners acting pro se have won significant victories). 33 In all events, the PLRA fee cap does not make it impossible for a prisoner to secure the services of a lawyer. Cynics and naysayers notwithstanding, we are reluctant to conclude that all attorneys accept or reject prisoners' cases solely on the basis of financial considerations. Moreover, prisoners may hire attorneys with their own funds. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d)(4) (Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a prisoner from entering into an agreement to pay an attorney's fee . . . .). Then, too, the PLRA contains other provisions that allow for differential compensation (including shifted fees not subject to the section 1997e(d)(2) cap, see supra note 4) where injunctive or declaratory relief is obtained. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d)(1). Finally, the PLRA does not eliminate all prospect of shifted attorneys' fees even in cases that involve only money damages. After all, the statutory cap allows for an award of attorneys' fees in an amount up to 150% of a monetary judgment - which is 150% more than the norm in civil litigation. We doubt that a lawyer who believes that a prisoner has a meritorious claim for damages will be deterred by that limitation. 34 To say more on this topic would be supererogatory. We agree with Judge O'Scannlain that, in the last analysis, [t]he PLRA does not restrict access to the courts; at most, it restricts prisoners' access to the most sought-after counsel who insist on their going rate for representation. Madrid, 190 F.3d at 995. Heightened scrutiny is, therefore, inappropriate in this case. 5 35 2. Rationality Review. Since the PLRA fee cap neither involves a suspect classification nor infringes on the fundamental right of access to the courts, we analyze its constitutionality under the rational basis test. 36 Rationality review in equal protection cases is not a license for courts to judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic of legislative choices. FCC v. Beach Communications, Inc., 508 U.S. 307, 313 (1993). Rather, an inquiring court must ask whether there is a rational relationship between the disparity of treatment and some legitimate governmental purpose. Heller v. Doe, 509 U.S. 312, 320(1993). If any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could provide a rational basis for the classification exists, the classification must be upheld. Beach, 508 U.S. at 313. As long as this modest burden is satisfied, Congress's handiwork will endure even if the law seems unwise or works to the disadvantage of a particular group, or if the rationale for it seems tenuous. Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, 632 (1996). 37 Consistent with these tenets, the Supreme Court has made it pellucid that a person who challenges the rationality of a statute must negate every plausible basis that conceivably might support it. See Heller, 509 U.S. at 320; Lehnhausen v. Lake Shore Auto Parts Co., 410 U.S. 356, 364 (1973). Boivin fails to discredit the legitimacy of no fewer than three purposes that are served by the cap on attorneys' fees: discouraging frivolous suits, protecting the public fisc, and bringing prisoner incentives to litigate more in line with non-prisoner incentives. 6 38 We need not pause to analyze these legislative purposes separately. It suffices to say that the prison setting is sui generis, and Congress's choice to treat prisoners differently than non-prisoners is plainly justified by the idiosyncratic characteristics of that setting. Prisoners' living costs are paid by the public and prisoners have nowhere to go - a combination that gives them more free time than non-prisoners to pursue claims (whether or not valid). The problem of prisoner litigiousness is exacerbated by the nature of prison life, as inmates tend to egg each other on. This problem is further complicated by the constitutionally-protected right to a certain level of legal assistance, see Bounds, 430 U.S. at 828. Experience has shown that these and other factors, acting in concert, encourage inmates to bring large numbers of insubstantial claims - or so Congress rationally could have thought. See Madrid, 190 F.3d at 996 ([I]t is certainly conceivable that, because of significant potential gains and low opportunity costs, prisoners generally file a disproportionate number of frivolous suits as compared to the population as a whole.). Thus, we reject Boivin's plaint that the statute distinguishes impermissibly between prisoners and other civil rights plaintiffs. 39 Boivin attempts to elude the inevitability of this result in a variety of ways. Citing the uncontroversial principle that a court ought not to uphold a law motivated by a bare . . . desire to harm a politically unpopular group, United States Dep't of Agric. v. Moreno, 413 U.S. 528, 534 (1973), he insists that the fee cap discriminates against prisoners with meritorious claims, leaving them bereft of counsel so their claims can more easily be thwarted. But given the legitimate governmental purposes that underlie the fee cap, see supra, the claim of a bare desire to harm will not fly. Consequently, the Moreno principle has no application on these facts. 40 As a fallback, Boivin deplores what he envisions as the complete lack of fit between the means that Congress chose (capping attorneys' fees) and the end that it sought to achieve (reducing frivolous prisoner litigation). Although this argument is presented only in skeletal form, it is phrased in terms reminiscent of the Supreme Court's decision in Lindsey v. Normet, 405 U.S. 56, 77-78 (1972) (holding unconstitutional a double-bond requirement imposed on tenants who seek to appeal landlords' verdicts in rent disputes on the ground that the requirement not only bars non-frivolous appeals by those who are unable to post the bond but also allows meritless appeals by others who can afford the bond). Thus, we assume that Boivin means that since attorneys' fees are awarded only to prevailing parties, the fee cap could have no possible deterrent effect on the filing of meritless actions. 41 Common sense suggests that this ex post view is untenable. Congress presumably feared the motivating effect of the prospect of attorneys' fees, ex ante, and the fee cap quells that effect by capping the potential payoff. This changes the odds and forces both lawyer and client, out of self-interest, to assess likely outcomes with greater care before filing a suit that, even if nominally successful, might leave them holding a nearly empty bag. 42 To be sure, it can be argued that discouraging lawyers from filing frivolous prisoner suits will fail to reduce the overall number of meritless claims because the suits eschewed by lawyers simply will be prosecuted by prisoners acting pro se. In that event, all that the fee cap will achieve is a reduction in the number of frivolous cases in which prisoners are represented by counsel. While the argument that we have posited is not illogical, there are still two conceivable ways in which the fee cap might serve to reduce the aggregate number of frivolous prisoner suits. First, Congress may have believed that at least some prisoners would abandon their claims if they could not secure the services of an attorney. Second, to the extent that Congress thought lawyers were exhorting prisoners to pursue frivolous claims in the hope that lightning would strike - that, say, a runaway jury would hand down a favorable verdict or a sympathetic judge would couple a smidgen of relief with a large fee award - the fee cap would tend to curtail that behavior, thereby reducing the overall number of frivolous suits in the system. Recognizing that rationality review is highly deferential to legislative choices, see Beach, 508 U.S. at 313, these possibilities are sufficient to sustain the statutory fee cap. Under the rational basis test, duly enacted socioeconomic legislation should be upheld so long as any set of facts could suffice to establish a rational relationship between the law and the government's legitimate objectives. Montalvo-Huertas v. Rivera-Cruz, 885 F.2d 971, 978 (1st Cir. 1989). 43 Nor does Boivin's analogy to Lindsey compel a different result. The case before us differs from Lindsey in two important respects. First, unlike the double-bond requirement, the cap on attorneys' fees is not a barrier to court access, but a limitation on relief: the double-bond requirement operated directly to bar appeals by individuals who could not afford the extra cost, whereas the fee cap only affects how claims are presented and does not preclude any prisoner from actually bringing a claim. Second, the Lindsey Court found a very poor correlation between the double-bond requirement and the goal of reducing frivolous appeals. See 405 U.S. at 78. The fee cap fits much more snugly with the goal of reducing the volume of frivolous suits because it has the principal effect of encouraging both prisoners and lawyers who are mulling whether to bring covered cases to ask if the game is worth the candle, given the relief available. 44 Let us be crystal clear. We do not suggest that there is a seamless fit between section 1997e(d)(2) and the goals that Congress aspired to achieve. However, rational basis review does not require a perfect accommodation between means and ends. See Heller, 509 U.S. at 321. Because a cap on attorneys' fees, particularly when linked with the requirement that the prisoner contribute part of the award to the payment of the fee, see 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(d)(2), conceivably may discourage prisoners and their counsel from filing frivolous or low-value suits, we think that the fit is close enough to pass constitutional muster. See Metropolis Theater Co. v. City of Chicago, 228 U.S. 61, 69 (1913) (The problems of government are practical ones and may justify, if they do not require, rough accommodations . . . .).