Opinion ID: 752355
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Calculation of Joseph Fears's Award

Text: 14 In June 1996, the district court held a four-day evidentiary hearing to determine the eligibility of the eight remaining individual claims for relief. On November 6, 1996, the court granted relief to a single claimant, Joseph Fears, finding that he attempted to apply for a position with the Warren Police Department in 1979, but was not allowed to apply because of the city's preapplication residency requirement. The district court denied relief to the other claimants, finding that they did not or would not have applied for employment during the times that Warren was accepting applications, or that they would not have accepted positions with the city at any rate. The court awarded Fears $55,595 in back pay beginning two years before the United States filed the complaint and ending November 13, 1990, the day Fears was terminated from the Detroit Police Department for misconduct, a date the United States did not contest. 15 The district court adopted Warren's proposed calculation of prejudgment interest on Fears's back pay award. 5 The court also reduced Fears's back pay by an attrition factor equal to the percentage of police officers that Warren hired during the time in question, who no longer remained in their positions as of March 1996. Lastly, the district court declined to include as part of Fears's back pay award any overtime he might have earned as a Warren police officer. 6 16 This timely appeal followed.