Opinion ID: 167974
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: McInnis's Cross-Appeal Issues

Text: 45 McInnis has cross-appealed, challenging the district court's costs, front pay, and attorneys' fees awards. Reviewing each award for an abuse of discretion, see Rodriguez v. Whiting Farms, Inc., 360 F.3d 1180, 1190 (10th Cir.2004) (costs); Smith v. Diffee Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, Inc., 298 F.3d 955, 964 (10th Cir.2002) (front pay); Chavez v. Thomas & Betts Corp., 396 F.3d 1088, 1102 (10th Cir.2005) (attorneys' fees), we reverse.
46 The district court ordered each party shall pay her or its own costs without providing any reason for its decision. McInnis requested that the court alter or amend its order and award her costs, but the district court also denied that motion without explanation. In Cantrell v. International Brotherhood of Electric Workers, Local 2021, 69 F.3d 456 (10th Cir.1995) (en banc), we held that a district court's discretion under Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d) 14 is restrained in that it must provide a valid reason for not awarding costs to a prevailing party. Id. at 459; see also Rodriguez, 360 F.3d at 1190. Fairfield does not dispute that McInnis was the prevailing party and does not object to a remand on this issue in light of Cantrell. We agree with the parties that remand is appropriate so that the district court may make the required findings and provide a valid reason for denying McInnis costs should it decide on remand to do so; however, we note that Rule 54 creates a presumption that the district court will award the prevailing party costs. Rodriguez, 360 F.3d at 1190.
47 McInnis also appeals the district court's denial of front pay damages. Front pay is simply money awarded for lost compensation during the period between judgment and reinstatement or in lieu of reinstatement to make the plaintiff whole. Abuan v. Level 3 Commc'n, Inc., 353 F.3d 1158, 1176 (10th Cir.2003) (alteration, quotations, citation omitted). Although reinstatement is the preferred remedy under Title VII, it may not be appropriate . . . when the employer has exhibited such extreme hostility that, as a practical matter, a productive and amicable working relationship would be impossible. E.E.O.C. v. Prudential Fed. Sav. and Loan Ass'n, 763 F.2d 1166, 1172 (10th Cir.1985); see also Fitzgerald v. Sirloin Stockade, Inc., 624 F.2d 945, 957 (10th Cir.1980) (holding that denial of reinstatement was appropriate in a Title VII case where there was an atmosphere of hostility). Here, reinstatement was not a suitable option. 15 As the district court found, it would be devastating to the plaintiff to be reinstated with Fairfield. 48 The amount [of front pay], if any, is set in the court's discretion. Whittington v. Nordam Group Inc., 429 F.3d 986, 1000 (10th Cir.2005). The following factors are relevant in assessing such an award: 49 work life expectancy, salary and benefits at the time of termination, any potential increase in salary through regular promotions and cost of living adjustment, the reasonable availability of other work opportunities, the period within which the plaintiff may become re-employed with reasonable efforts, and methods to discount any award to net present value. 50 In formulating a front-pay award the district court may consider all evidence presented at trial concerning the individualized circumstances of both the employee and employer, but it must avoid granting the plaintiff a windfall. 51 Whittington, 429 F.3d at 1000-01 (citations, quotations omitted). The district court, however, did not consider these factors in denying McInnis front pay and instead simply noted that McInnis got a job where she's comfortable and doing well and seems to me that that would be much better for her than reinstatement. This was an error of law and, consequently, an abuse of discretion. 52 McInnis's vocational expert testified that McInnis has absolutely no prospects of attaining a pay level equivalent to the pay she received at Fairfield. 16 Fairfield is the largest resort in the Pagosa Springs area, and the job market in the area is very limited. As a result, the record indicates that McInnis will be adversely affected by the termination of her employment with Fairfield. We therefore reverse the district court's denial of front pay and remand for the district court to determine in the first instance the proper award.
53 With regard to the attorneys' fees award, McInnis argues on cross-appeal that the district court abused its discretion by 1) denying her discovery of Fairfield's attorneys' fees and costs; 2) denying her the opportunity to reply in support of her motion for attorneys' fees; and 3) reducing her requested attorneys' fee award by half. 54
55 Before the district court, McInnis sought to discover Fairfield's billing records, including attorneys' billing rates, costs, and hours expended, as relevant to the reasonableness of her own counsels' fees because, as she contends, it demonstrates Fairfield's maneuvering and provides comparative information about reasonable rates, fees, and hours expended in this case. While we have long accepted the proposition that one of the factors useful in evaluating the reasonableness of the number of attorney hours in a fee request is the responses necessitated by the maneuvering of the other side, Robinson v. City of Edmond, 160 F.3d 1275, 1284 (10th Cir.1998) (quotations omitted), McInnis's motion for attorneys' fees details the degree to which Fairfield's alleged maneuvering affected her attorneys' fees. Thus, although McInnis contends that evidence of Fairfield's attorneys' fees and expenses are relevant to the reasonableness of her counsels' fees, there is no evidence that the district court was not intimately aware of Fairfield's maneuvering and the tenacity with which Fairfield litigated this case. See City of Riverside v. Rivera, 477 U.S. 561, 580 n. 11, 106 S.Ct. 2686, 91 L.Ed.2d 466 (1986) (The government cannot litigate tenaciously and then be heard to complain about the time necessarily spent by the plaintiff in response.) (quotations omitted). 56 Furthermore, McInnis has not justified discovery of Fairfield's attorneys' billing records beyond her allegations of maneuvering. We therefore cannot say that the district court abused its discretion by denying McInnis's motion to compel discovery of this evidence. In any event, for the reasons described below, McInnis will have an opportunity on remand to reply to Fairfield's challenge to the reasonableness of her attorneys' hourly rates and time expended in this case with, for example, an expert report supporting her attorneys' fee petition and/or affidavits from local attorneys reflecting their customary fee for work in similar cases.
57 McInnis argues that the district court abused its discretion by denying her the opportunity to reply in support of her motion for attorneys' fees. The district court's local rules provide that [t]he moving party may file a reply within 15 days after the filing date of the response, or such lesser or greater time as the court may allow. D.C. Colo. L. Civ. R. 7.1(C). We review a district court's application of its local rules for abuse of discretion. See Hernandez v. George, 793 F.2d 264, 268 (10th Cir.1986). 58 Our review of the district court docket indicates the following sequence of events: McInnis filed her motion for attorneys' fees and expert witness fees on July 23, 2004. Fairfield's response was filed on August 5. Under the local rules, then, McInnis had until August 20 to file a reply. See D.C. Colo. L. Civ. R. 7.1(C). On August 10, McInnis filed a motion for extension of time to file a reply. On August 12, the district court denied McInnis's motion for an extension in an order that stated, without further explanation: FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff's request to reply regarding her Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Expert Witness Fees is denied. Then, on August 19, a day before her reply was due under the general local rule time period, the court entered its award of attorneys' fees. 59 Without any explanation for its order, denying McInnis the opportunity to reply even though she was expressly authorized to do so under the district court's local rules was an arbitrary, capricious, whimsical, or manifestly unreasonable judgment. Schrier v. Univ. of Colo., 427 F.3d 1253, 1258 (10th Cir.2005). Accordingly, we conclude that the district court abused its discretion, and we remand with instructions to allow McInnis the opportunity to reply. 60
61 Because we are remanding to allow McInnis the opportunity to reply, we do not address whether the district court abused its discretion by decreasing McInnis's attorneys' fees award. However, we note that we see nothing intrinsically wrong with the district court's current award of attorneys' fees. While the district court must articulate reasons for its fee award, Public Serv. Co. v. Cont'l Cas. Co., 26 F.3d 1508, 1520 (10th Cir.1994), [a] general reduction of hours claimed in order to achieve what the court determines to be a reasonable number is not an erroneous method, so long as there is sufficient reason for its use, Mares v. Credit Bureau of Raton, 801 F.2d 1197, 1203 (10th Cir.1986). Here, the district court found both the number of hours expended on this litigation and the hourly rate charged by McInnis's attorneys to be unreasonable, and it therefore reduced both. Additionally, we note that ultimately an appellate court plays [only] a `limited role' in reviewing a district court's award of attorneys' fees and costs, and deference is given to a district court's judgment on the matter, since the court is in a better position to assess the course of litigation and quality of work. Gamble, Simmons & Co. v. Kerr-McGee Corp., 175 F.3d 762, 773-74 (10th Cir.1999). However, once the district court considers McInnis's reply brief, it will be in a better position to consider anew the matter of the award of attorneys' fees.