Opinion ID: 885550
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: prevailing party on appeal.

Text: ¶ 65 Whether the District Court erred in denying the Patients' attorney fees incurred on appeal? ¶ 66 In Ihler I, we held that the District Court erred by increasing the lodestar by 50 percent and by not including Gallagher's fees incurred while Gallagher was employed by the State, but we affirmed the District Court's reduction of the lodestar by 25 percent for lack of success. On remand pursuant to Ihler I, Patients filed a motion for attorney fees and expenses incurred on appeal. The District Court observed that the Patients did not prevail on most of the issues raised in the appeal that were decided by the Supreme Court and denied the Patients' request for fees and expenses. The Patients claim that the District Court applied the wrong legal standard, or abused its discretion in the application of the correct standard. [3] ¶ 67 A party who successfully prevails on appeal is entitled to attorney fees under § 1988. Corder, 104 F.3d at 249 (citations omitted). However, once again, we note that there seems to be a division of opinion amongst federal appellate courts. In this case, the division concerns what constitutes a prevailing party on appeal. In Corder, a Ninth Circuit panel affirmed the conclusion of the District Court that the plaintiffs did not prevail on appeal because the net result of the various appeals was a reduced award for the plaintiff. Corder, 104 F.3d at 247. However, in Ustrak, Judge Posner, writing for a Seventh Circuit panel, held that the plaintiff was the prevailing party despite the fact that plaintiff's award was reduced on appeal. Judge Posner stated: But is [the plaintiff] really the prevailing party on this appeal? Having persuaded us to cut down the fee award by a third, the [defendant] could be said to be a prevailing party too.... This is not the correct approach. As the prevailing party in the underlying civil rights action, [the plaintiff] is entitled to reimbursement of fees reasonably incurred, whether they are fees incurred in the original civil rights trial and appeal, fees incurred in proving those fees, or fees incurred in defending the district court's fee award. Since the reasonableness of a fee is a function in part of the success achieved by the expenditure, lack of success in obtaining fees or in defending a fee award is certainly material in deciding how large the reimbursement should be. Ustrak, 851 F.2d at 990. ¶ 68 We agree with the Seventh Circuit that, when the defendant appeals an attorney fee award and the plaintiff incurs expenses in defending against that appeal that are reasonable even though they are not crowned by complete success, ordinarily the plaintiff should be entitled to reimbursement of those fees; the plaintiff had no choice but to incur them. See Ustrak, 851 F.2d at 990. Consequently, we conclude that the District Court erred in denying the Patients an award of reasonable attorney fees incurred on appeal.