Opinion ID: 512369
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Remaining Remand

Text: 52 Despite the fact that we vacate so much of the panel opinion as is inconsistent with this opinion (that is so much of that opinion as relied on Laffey ), and adopt the reasoning of the District Court on the basic method of determining a reasonable hourly rate, a limited remand is necessary. In arriving at the prevailing community rates applicable to Yablonski's and Galloway's fee award determination, the District Court relied, at least in part, on the schedule of prevailing community rates compiled by the District Court in Laffey. Save Our Cumberland Mountains, 662 F.Supp. at 1165. The difficulty of that reliance is that, since the time of the District Court's opinion, the Supreme Court has made it plain that absent an explicit waiver of sovereign immunity, attorneys' fees awarded against the federal government must be based on historical rates. Save Our Cumberland Mountains, 826 F.2d at 59 (Wald, C.J., separate opinion) (citing Library of Congress v. Shaw, 478 U.S. 310, 106 S.Ct. 2957, 92 L.Ed.2d 250 (1986)). Thus, we must remand this matter for the limited purpose of new findings as to reasonable hourly rates at the time the services were performed consistent with this opinion. 53 We do not intend, by this remand, to diminish the value of the fee schedule compiled by the District Court in Laffey. Indeed, we commend its use for the year to which it applies. Perhaps the most desirable result of the present litigation would be the compiling of a similar schedule of prevailing community rates for other relevant years. 54 In making this remand we encourage the parties to act reasonably in pursuit of any possible settlement. Already this case has occupied the time of the Courts and the attorneys since 1981. Since 1985, the litigation has concerned attorneys' fees. Consistent with the admonitions of the Supreme Court in Hensley v. Eckerhart, we would urge the parties not to unduly prolong what is already a second major litigation. 55 VACATED AND REMANDED. 56