Opinion ID: 168352
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reasonable rate

Text: 87 Counsel argue that the district court abused its discretion in reducing their rate. To determine what constitutes a reasonable rate, the district court considers the prevailing market rate in the relevant community. Malloy v. Monahan, 73 F.3d 1012, 1018 (10th Cir.1996). Plaintiffs must provide evidence of the prevailing market rate for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable skill, experience, and reputation in the relevant community. Blum, 465 U.S. at 895 n. 11, 104 S.Ct. 1541; Case v. Unified Sch. Dist. No. 233, 157 F.3d 1243, 1255-56 (10th Cir. 1998). The hourly rate should be based on the lawyers' skill and experience in civil rights or analogous litigation. Ramos v. Lamm, 713 F.2d 546, 555 (10th Cir.1983), overruled in part on other grounds, Pennsylvania v. Del. Valley Citizens' Council for Clean Air, 483 U.S. 711, 725, 107 S.Ct. 3078, 97 L.Ed.2d 585 (1987). If the district court does not have adequate evidence of prevailing market rates for attorney fees, then it may, in its discretion, use other relevant factors, including its own knowledge, to establish the rate. Case, 157 F.3d at 1257. A district judge may consider his or her own knowledge of prevailing market rates as well as other indicia of a reasonable market rate. Metz v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 39 F.3d 1482, 1493 (10th Cir.1994) (internal quotation marks omitted). 88 The district court relied upon the defendants' expert and the district court's own knowledge of the prevailing market rate. Order 07/29/04, Aplt.App. at 291. The district court concluded that Nelson's requested hourly rate of $325.00 and McKinney's requested hourly rate of $250.00 were above the prevailing market rate for comparable litigation in Wichita, Kansas. The district court found that a reasonable rate for Nelson was $165.00 per hour. The district court found that a reasonable rate for McKinney was $135.00 per hour because he was local counsel and had less responsibility. It reduced the hourly rate as to the law student researchers from $85.00 to $35.00 because plaintiffs failed to present evidence of the prevailing market rates for such research in Wichita. 89 On appeal, plaintiffs fail to show that the district court abused its discretion in setting the reasonable rates. The record supports the district court's findings that $165.00 was a reasonable hourly rate for Nelson and $135.00 for McKinney, given the prevailing market rates in Wichita. For example, plaintiffs' expert stated that hourly rates for partners at the largest law firm in Kansas ranged from $145.00 to $300.00 per hour. Defendants' expert stated that a reasonable hourly fee is $160.00 for experienced trial counsel for a constitutional case in Wichita. Plaintiffs' counsel argue that their requested rates are reasonable, citing cases from around the country where attorney fees were awarded. App. at 48-49. Yet none of these cases involve a fee award in the relevant community, which in this case is Wichita, Kansas. See Blum, 465 U.S. at 895, 104 S.Ct. 1541 & n. 11. 90 Plaintiffs' counsel argue that Frederick Nelson is a national expert in civil rights cases, and that his hourly rate should be a reasonable national rate instead of the rate of the relevant community of Wichita, Kansas. Aplt. Br. at 9. Plaintiffs cite Hendrickson v. Branstad, 934 F.2d 158, 164 (8th Cir.1991), which upheld a district court's determination that counsel's hourly rate should be comparable to nationally prominent federal civil rights counsel, rather than local Iowa counsel, because he is a recognized expert in juvenile law. Id. Yet Hendrickson does not require us to reverse the district court's finding that Nelson should receive a local rate in this case. Unless the subject of the litigation is so unusual or requires such special skills that only an out-of-state attorney possesses, the fee rates of the local area should be applied even when the lawyers seeking fees are from another area. Ramos, 713 F.2d at 555; see also Bangerter, 61 F.3d at 1510. Plaintiffs failed to establish that the subject of the litigation was so unusual that only an out-of-state attorney could present the case. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in applying reasonable hourly rates from attorneys of equivalent skills in Wichita, Kansas.