Appeals Court Upholds Attorney Fees for Plaintiffs Who Obtained Injunction
A federal appeals court has ruled that civil rights plaintiffs who obtained a preliminary injunction were prevailing parties entitled to attorney fees.
The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a March 17 opinion (PDF) that the three plaintiffs attained their goals even though they never took the case to final judgment, the Legal Intelligencer reports. Their lawsuit spurred the city to revise an ordinance that had required parade organizers to prepay the cost of police protection.
The American Civil Liberties Union represented the plaintiffs. “This decision is important because it rejects the games and gimmicks played by the city, which are so typical of government agencies trying to avoid paying attorneys’ fees after they are caught deliberately violating people’s constitutional rights,” said ACLU lawyer Witold Walczak, who argued the case.
