Court Opinion

ID: 9475615
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:32:45.92391+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:49.217444
License: Public Domain

KEITH, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I believe the majority has incorrectly analyzed the attorney fee issue. A district court’s award of attorneys’ fees to a prevailing party in a civil rights suit should not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). This circuit has held that a hearing is only required when the court needs to inform itself of the facts. See O’Bryan v. The County of Saginaw, Michigan, 722 F.2d 313, 314 (6th Cir.1983); see also Smith v. Detroit Board of Education, 728 F.2d 359, 360 (6th Cir.1984).
In the present case, plaintiffs filed their Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Costs with supporting affidavits and time logs attached. All of the facts were before the district court. Not only did defendants fail to respond to plaintiff's motion within 20 days as required by Local Rule 4.0.2, they allowed 110 days to pass without a response. Although it is clear from the rule that the failure to file a motion in opposition may result in the granting of the motion as filed, defendants chose not to oppose it. Defendants also chose not to respond to the affidavits and time logs attached to the motion. Furthermore, I do not see how the district court abused its discretion by granting the motion without a hearing; especially since a hearing is only required in this circuit when the court needs to inform itself of the facts. The district court had more than sufficient information to conclude that the fees requested by plaintiffs were reasonable: specifically, plaintiffs attached affidavits detailing the hours spent on this case as well as the dates, billing hours and activities performed during such time. Since I do not believe the district court abused its discretion, I respectfully dissent.