Court Opinion

ID: 9686646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 15:59:51.49523+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:21.127024
License: Public Domain

*754Krivosha, C.J.,
concurring in part, and in part dissenting.
I concur in that portion of the majority opinion which holds that judgment should be entered in favor of the appellee, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. I dissent, however, from that portion of the opinion which finds that we are compelled to award an attorney fee in favor of Goodyear Tire & Rubber and against the appellant, Williams.
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-1120(6) (Reissue 1984) does not require a court to enter an attorney fee. Rather, it provides that the trial court “in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs.” While I recognize that in the case of Airport Inn v. Nebraska Equal Opp. Comm., 217 Neb. 852, 353 N.W.2d 727 (1984), we held that absent special circumstances, the failure to award such fees generally is an abuse of discretion, I believe in the instant case there are special circumstances which the district court apparently took into account and which we on appeal are disregarding.
While the financial size of a litigant is not generally to be considered by a court in resolving the merits of the case, I do believe that when exercising discretion with regard to the allowance of attorney fees in cases brought under acts intended to eliminate discrimination, it is an appropriate consideration. By our decision today we have notified all persons who may claim to be the subject of discrimination that should it be determined, even in a close case, that no violation of the Nebraska Fair Employment Practice Act occurred, the individual bringing the charges will be required to pay attorney fees to the prevailing employer. This rule seems to apply without regard to whether house counsel or outside counsel is employed. That simply does not square with the purpose of the act as set out in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-1101 (Reissue 1984). Section 48-1101 reads in part as follows:
It is the policy of this state to foster the employment of all employable persons in the state on the basis of merit regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, disability, or national origin, and to safeguard their right to obtain and hold employment without discrimination because of their race, color, religion, sex, disability, or national origin. Denying equal opportunity for employment because of *755race, color, religion, sex, disability, or national origin is contrary to the principles of freedom and is a burden on the objectives of the public policy of this state.
Furthermore, as one reads the act, it is clear that the purpose of the act is to afford individuals who do not stand on equal footing with employers an opportunity to be heard. By imposing an attorney fee in every case in which the individual “loses,” we will effectively “chill” the individual’s right to file suit by reason of the fear that not only will the individual be unemployed but will also be required to pay attorney fees. Certainly, there may be instances where the individual and the prospective employer are equals. In that case the allowance of an attorney fee may be appropriate. Not so in the instant case. While at first blush it may seem appropriate to treat a large corporate employer in the same manner as an individual, yet on further reflection it occurs to me that the whole purpose of the Nebraska Fair Employment Practice Act is to grant a benefit to individuals seeking employment. Most often, employees who are compelled to seek redress under this act are individuals for whom the payment of an attorney fee to a corporate employer poses a nearly impossible burden and would discourage them from seeking redress in the courts. This runs contrary to the social purposes for enacting the legislation in the first place. While courts must do everything they can to discourage frivolous suits, they should not, in their desire to control dockets, impose burdens upon individuals of such a nature that they will be fearful to seek redress to which they may be lawfully entitled. I would not have interpreted § 48-1120(6) to “require” us to impose an attorney fee in this case.