Court Opinion

ID: 9478349
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:47:03.204015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:23.186785
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing
PER CURIAM:
The successful plaintiff-appellee has filed, out of time, a “Motion To Extend the Time Period for Petitioning for Rehearing.” In the motion, the plaintiff calls our attention to the fact that our opinion was silent as to the plaintiff’s prayer for attorneys’ fees for time spent litigating this action before this court. The motion suggests that an extension of time “would provide the court with an opportunity to .elucidate its silence on this issue and/or to instruct the parties on the proper course for resolving this issue.”
The omission of this issue from the opinion was an oversight. Accordingly, we treat the plaintiff's motion as a motion for leave to file out-of-time petition for rehearing and as a petition for rehearing on the question of attorneys’ fees on appeal. We grant the motion and the petition.
The successful plaintiff here is entitled to recover reasonable attorneys’ fees for defending, in this court, the judgment for attorneys’ fees obtained in the district court. See Fontenot v. Louisiana Bd. of Elem. & Secondary Educ., 835 F.2d 117, 121 (5th Cir.1988). In his brief on appeal, the plaintiff requested $100 for 33 hours’ work, for a total of $3,300 in attorneys’ fees. We find 33 hours to be a reasonable expenditure of effort for litigating, on appeal, this question of first impression in this court. However, in the district court, the parties stipulated, and the district court agreed, that $90 per hour was a reasonable fee for litigating the issue in that court. We find that rate to be reasonable in this court as well and award it instead of the requested rate of $100. Consequently, the plaintiff shall recover, in addition to the usual taxable cost, attorneys’ fees for 33 hours at $90, or $2,970.
In all other respects, the petition for rehearing is denied.