Opinion ID: 76249
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: some concluding thoughts

Text: 53 Appellate courts ordinarily take cases as they come in the normal flow of the docket and dispose of them by deciding one issue at a time. That is as it should be, and we have done that here. Sometimes, with its head down, focused on the job at hand, a court does not consider and discuss the larger problems backlit by the dispute before it. Like an elephant in the parlor, however, the problems of the Reynolds litigation have become too big to ignore. 54 And the elephant won't go away. Since the case began there have been more than four dozen appeals or petitions for review or mandamus filed in connection with it. This is the sixth appeal in which we have issued a published opinion, and we have at least eight more separate appeals or petitions stemming from the case that are pending before us now. Of course, the burden on the district court, which has had to carry most of the load, has been even greater. 55 After eighteen years of hearing following hearing, order after order, appeal and more appeals, it is fair to ask what has been accomplished and what remains to be done. The answer, it appears, is not enough has been accomplished and a lot remains to be done. This unwieldy litigation has been afflicting the judicial system and draining huge amounts of public funds from the State of Alabama for much too long. The amounts are staggering. Fifty million dollars in public funds has been spent on attorney's fees alone in the case. 11 An additional $62.5 million has been paid out in consultant and expert costs, bringing the total litigation costs to the State of Alabama to more than $112 million, and that cost is growing at a rate of around $500,000.00 each and every month. The figure does not even include the close to $13 million in contempt fines that the State has paid and continues to pay at the rate of $250,000.00 per month. 12 If the contempt fines are included in the total, the case has cost the taxpayers of the State of Alabama $125 million so far, and the tab is increasing at the rate of $750,000.00 per month. 13 56 Notwithstanding all of the public funds that have been poured into this litigation, and the judge years of effort that have gone into it, much remains to be done. There are fifteen articles of the consent decree for which contempt fines have been imposed. There has been a finding or stipulation of compliance in regard to only three of those fifteen articles. Of the remaining twelve articles, contempt fines have been suspended by agreement pending a hearing on the defendants' motion for a finding of compliance in regard to six. As to the other six articles, there are no pending requests for stipulation or for a finding of compliance, and contempt fines are mounting. 14 57 The consent decree was originally set to expire two-and-a-half years ago on December 31, 2000. The district court extended that deadline to December 31, 2004 for certain articles and provisions, and to December 31, 2006 for others. The defendants, through their counsel in this appeal, have represented to this Court that they believe they can fulfill some of the remaining requirements of the consent decree in perhaps one year or less, and the others perhaps by 2005. 15 Supp. Letter of Defendants at 5, 6. When we asked the parties for supplemental letters concerning the status and cost of the Reynolds litigation, the Governor of Alabama also filed one in which he committed his administration to quickly and fully implement[ing] a department that is race-neutral in its operation. Supp. Letter of Governor Riley at 2. We consider that an encouraging sign and expect that the Governor's commitment will be reflected in the speed with which the defendants comply with the remaining provisions of the consent decree. 58 The plaintiffs, through their counsel, have pledged to help bring this case to a conclusion at the earliest time, and towards that end have represented that they are open to any reasonable modifications [to the consent decree] that will close this case at the earliest practicable opportunity. 16 Supp. Letter of Plaintiffs at 14, 15. We expect the parties to act in accordance with their representations to us, and the district court should use all lawful means to ensure that they do. 59 As we explained in another long-standing case involving a consent decree entered into by a governmental entity, while protecting the constitutional rights of minorities is an important duty of federal courts, woven throughout the Constitution is a commitment to democratic self-rule through officials answerable to the people. Ensley Branch, NAACP v. Seibels, 31 F.3d 1548, 1574-75 (11th Cir.1994). Federal court oversight of and interference in the operations of a state government department or agency should be as narrow and short-lived as fulfilling the duty to eradicate discrimination allows. Id. Federal courts should not be in the business of running important functions of state government for decades at a time. 60 We can only rule on issues presented in appeals that come before us. The district court, because of the task assigned to it in our judicial system, and owing to its greater familiarity with the case, has the primary responsibility for taming this beast of a case. All reasonable and appropriate efforts to that end will be welcomed in this Court. 61 Beyond general encouragement, we offer two suggestions for the district court's consideration. One is that if the judicial time and effort required to bring this litigation to a proper end in a reasonably prompt manner exceeds that which the district court judge with his full regular docket can devote to the case, he may wish to consider seeking help from other judges either inside or outside his own district. Some of the issues that remain to be resolved are so interwoven that they may not be appropriate for parceling out to other judges. Others, however, may be capable of being handled by other judges. To suggest that resolution of this case may take more judicial resources than a single judge is able to devote is not to disparage the judge who has been shouldering the burden alone, but instead is merely to recognize the size of the thankless task at which the judge has resolutely labored for so long. Beyond obtaining help from other judges, the district court may also wish to consider increased use of special masters where appropriate. See F.R.Civ.P. 53(b); see also Ensley Branch, 31 F.3d at 1574. 62 Our second suggestion has to do with attorney's fees. Under the consent decree, counsel for the plaintiff class is entitled to reasonable fees and expenses for work done. We are informed by the defendants that class counsel for the plaintiffs is paid for every hour they spend on the case, even when they lose. And even when they lose big. 17 For example, in Reynolds II, this Court found that the attorneys for the plaintiffs had invited error by the district court and then defended the commission of that error with baseless arguments on appeal; we remanded the case with directions that the plaintiffs' attorneys be required to show cause why they should not be sanctioned under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 for unreasonably and vexatiously multiplying proceedings in the case, conduct that caused substantial delay in one aspect of this case. 207 F.3d at 1301-02. As we understand it, the plaintiffs' attorneys conceivably could be paid for their time in connection with that appeal and the proceedings which led to it even if there is a finding that their position was so baseless as to be sanctionable. That illustrates how perverse the attorney's fees incentive can be. 18 63 With their fees for a particular effort not dependent upon its success, the plaintiffs' attorneys may have insufficient reason not to multiply proceedings and to contest every aspect of every part of every conceivable proceeding regardless of merit. Cf. 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b) (prevailing party status a prerequisite for compelling the defendants in certain statutory actions to pay the plaintiff's attorney fees and costs). The promise of fees for time spent without regard to the outcome of a motion or appeal in a case that apparently has endless potential for dispute may be the kerosene that has fueled the litigation fires which have raged out of control in this case. The district court may wish to consider whether cutting down on that fuel is an appropriate way to help bring the fire under control. 19 64 With these suggestions, we leave the matter in the good judgment of the district court, and will decide any related appeals as they come to us.