Court Opinion

ID: 9697624
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:23:18.095014+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:33.695139
License: Public Domain

BELL, C.J., files a dissenting opinion.
BELL, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
Betty Flaa, the respondent, filed with the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights (“MCOHR”) a marital status discrimination claim against Manor Country Club, the petitioner. That claim, to which she later added a claim for sex discrimination, alleged that the petitioner’s policies with respect to access to and use of its golf course were discriminatory on the basis of marital status and resulted in disparate *322treatment of women, in general and her, in particular, because of sex. She also asserted theories of disparate impact against women in the membership structure and a hostile environment for them in the petitioner’s indoor restaurant.
The respondent substantially prevailed on her claims. While, to be sure, the MCOHR panel did not adopt all of the findings and conclusions of the hearing examiner1 assigned to conduct the hearing in the case, it did adopt the most significant, the foundational one, that Manor Country Club is a place of public accommodation. The Panel also agreed that the petitioner had engaged in the act of sex discrimination against the respondent that the hearing examiner had identified. Having made those findings, it ordered the petitioner “to cease and desist from all activities and conduct that discriminate against women;” “to establish a formal and written policy against discrimination against women in the use of any facilities, services and activities of the club;” “to provide for a confidential and unbiased procedure for filing complaints of discrimination;” and “to provide reasonable access for [MCOHR] staff to monitor compliance with [its] order.” As the hearing examiner had done, although in lesser amounts, the panel awarded the respondent monetary damages and attorney’s fees. Rather than the maximum damages of $1,000 recommended by the hearing examiner, the panel awarded the petitioner $750.00 in damages, and significantly reduced the $120,481 in attorney’s fees recommended, awarding the petitioner only $3,000.
The Circuit Court for Montgomery County having reversed the attorney’s fee award, noting that it was arrived at without regard to the factors enumerated in Montgomery County Code, § 27—7(k)(1) (1987)2 and without refuting the findings *323supporting his fee recommendation, made by the hearing examiner, and remanded the case for a redetermination of the award, the panel issued its Order and Opinion Awarding Attorney’s Fees. In its Opinion, the panel addressed each of the § 27-7(k)(1) factors, concluding, in the Order, to award attorney’s fees of $22,440, “[b]ased on our Lodestar analysis of all of the factors that we are required to base this ruling upon.” That amount was calculated on the basis of 132 hours multiplied by the average firm billing rate, $170 per hour, of the petitioner’s counsel. In considering, as it was instructed to do, the degree of success the outcome represented for the petitioner, the panel observed:
“We found some of [the respondent’s] major theories and alleged causes of action brought in this case to be without merit and therefore declined to follow the recommendations of the Hearing Examiner on those issues of law. Moreover, in awarding the monetary damages that we did, this Panel was well aware of the fact that there was one (and only one) proven instance of ‘discrimination.’ We felt compelled by the statute to award injunctive relief, regardless of whether we believed that there were systemic wrongs to be righted. As discussed above, only the argument and decision in favor of finding for the jurisdiction of the Commission was a major victory for [the respondent].”
Accordingly, not believing the degree of success the respondent enjoyed to have been significant, the panel declined to *324adjust the attorney’s fees upward. Earlier, when addressing the time and labor factor, the panel had commented, tellingly:
“We cannot fathom how any person, dealing with the facts alleged, could have decided that it was worth $250,000 or so to litigate these issues. We believe that an attorney has a responsibility to dissuade clients or potential clients from launching costly litigation, knowing that the other party will incur enormous defense costs, where the cost/benefit ratio of that litigation is low. In this case particularly, damages were capped under the statute. Rather, it is our decision on this issue that any reasonable client would not have been willing to spend more than $25,000 to pursue claims of the type made in this proceeding.” [Alterations Added]
I have not the slightest doubt that the panel erred in its determination of the attorney’s fees in this case and that, as the Court of Special Appeals held, the Circuit Court erred in affirming that award. As the Circuit Court on initial review noted, although the respondent did not prevail on her claims of hostile environment and disparate impact, she prevailed on a matter of first impression in Maryland, her claim that Manor Country Club was a place of public accommodation, and on her claim of sex discrimination. Moreover, whatever might have been the motivation of the panel in awarding it, the respondent obtained the injunctive relief she sought, which relief benefited, in any event, not just the respondent, but all women using any of the petitioner’s “facilities, services and activities.” Furthermore, this discrimination matter has taken more than ten years to resolve, without regard to the appeal concerning the attorney’s fees, the fees as to which are also recoverable by the prevailing party. Like the Court of Special Appeals, I am unable to understand the reason for, or discern support for, “an 89 percent reduction in hours in a case in which the party seeking attorney’s fees prevailed on two of its four claims and one of those claims was a matter of first impression.” Flaa v. Manor Country Club, 158 Md.App. 483, 498, 857 A.2d 604, 613 (2004). It is even more perplexing when it is recalled that the respondent was awarded an amount equal to three-quarters of the maximum damages allowed.
*325It is absolutely clear to me that the panel did precisely what the Circuit Court, on initial review, surmised that it had done, engaged in and applied a cost-benefit analysis. Such an approach, because it requires the attorney’s fee award to be proportional to the monetary judgment award, is inconsistent with the purpose of the ordinance, to allow, not discourage, access to the courts for meritorious, though small, in terms of actual damages, claims. See City of Riverside v. Rivera, 477 U.S. 561, 577, 106 S.Ct. 2686, 2695, 91 L.Ed.2d 466, 482 (1986) (“[a] rule of proportionality would make it difficult, if not impossible, for individuals with meritorious civil rights claims but relatively small potential damages to obtain redress from the courts. This is totally inconsistent with Congress’ purpose in enacting [42 U.S.C.] § 1988.”); Blaylock v. Johns Hopkins Fed. Credit Union, 152 Md.App. 338, 356, 831 A.2d 1120, 1130 (2003). See also Bittner v. Tri-County Toyota, Inc., 58 Ohio St.3d 143, 569 N.E.2d 464, 466 (1991), in which the Ohio Supreme Court offered another argument against proportionality:
“In addition to addressing an individual wrong, pursuing a claim under the Act may produce a benefit to the community generally. A judgment for the consumer in such a case may discourage violations of the Act by others. Prohibiting private attorneys from recovering for the time they expend on a consumer protection case undermines both the purpose and deterrent effect of the Act.”
The validity of that argument is not at all affected by the fact that the statute at issue in that case was a consumer protection statute.
I dissent.3

. The hearing examiner found that Manor Country Club was a place of public accommodation; that the petitioner had engaged in one instance of sex discrimination, by treating her right of access to use of the golf course disparately; and that the petitioner had engaged in gender-based discriminatory practices, creating a hostile environment.

. Section 27-7(k)(1) of the Montgomery County Code, as in effect when this case was decided, provides:
*323"The complainant may be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees. In determining the reasonableness of attorney’s fees claimed by the complainant, the commission panel shall consider the following factors:
"a. Time and labor required;
"b. The novelty and complexity of the case;
“c. The skill requisite to perform the legal service properly;
"d. The preclusion of other employment by the attorney due to acceptance of the case;
"e. The customary fee;
"f. Whether the fee is fixed or contingent;
"g. Time limitations imposed by the client or the circumstances;
"h. The experience, reputation and ability of the attorneys; and
"i. Awards in similar cases.”

. I am aware that the respondent did not cross-appeal on the issue of whether the panel improperly applied a cost benefit analysis and that, although going to some pains to frame it, the Court of Special Appeals purported not to reach the merits of that issue. Nevertheless, I believe it would be putting form over substance to overlook the thrust, the real substance, of the intermediate appellate court’s analysis.