Opinion ID: 4020402
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Unfiled Proposal

Text: Defendants also assert that counsel unnecessarily increased hours by preparing a memo addressing proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law in advance of the hearing on Plaintiffs’ statewide preliminary injunction, which the district court did not request and did not use. At the hearing the district court praised “the extensive briefing” in the case, stating that it Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 27 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 put the court “in an excellent position to decide this PI [preliminary injunction] based on the papers that have been filed and the arguments that have been made,” but it expressed concern that the Plaintiffs’ proposed filing would “prolong the process” because Defendants might want to file a response. NEOCH, 2:06-cv-896, ID# 12353-54. The district court did not isolate the hours spent on the unfiled proposal in its opinion awarding fees. Instead, it made an overall assessment. “[W]e look to see whether the District Court, based on experience and the record in the case, misapplied the reasonable billing practices of the profession.” Coulter, 805 F.2d at 151. Because work on the proposal was of a sort that “a reasonable attorney would have believed . . . to be reasonably expended in pursuit of success at the point in time when the work was performed,” Wooldridge, 898 F.2d at 1177, it cannot be said that counsel exercised poor billing judgment. We find no abuse of discretion in allowing compensation for such hours.9