Attorney's fees

“ We disagree with these assertions. The judicial background against which Congress enacted § 1988 mirrored the statutory background: expert fees were regarded not as a subset of attorney's fees, but as a distinct category of litigation expense. ”

“ There is ample precedent for Congress' decision to authorize an award of attorney's fees as an item of costs. In England, costs "as between solicitor and client," Sprague v. Ticonic Nat. Bank, 307 U.S. 161, 167, are routinely taxed today, and have been awarded since 1278. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 247 n. 18. In America, although fees are not routinely awarded, there are a large number of statutory and common-law situations in which allowable costs include counsel fees. ”

“ The regulation of attorney's fees payable by claimants themselves is designed to protect claimants from their "improvident contracts, in the interest not only of themselves and their families but of the public." ”

“ First is the matter of delay. When plaintiffs' entitlement to attorney's fees depends on success, their lawyers are not paid until a favorable decision finally eventuates, which may be years later. . . . Meanwhile, their expenses of doing business continue and must be met. In setting fees for prevailing counsel, the courts have regularly recognized the delay factor, either by basing the award on current rates or by adjusting the fee based on historical rates to reflect its present value. ”

“ Section 6155, supra, provides that the attorney's fees shall be taxed as costs, but it does not provide that the 12 per cent. penalty shall be taxed as costs. Therefore the amount in controversy was $3,360.' Evidently, the court concluded because the state statute directed that attorneys' fees should be treated as costs, they were costs within the removal statute. ”

“ See Judicial Improvements Act of 1990, Pub.L. 101-650, § 314.↑ Justice STEVENS suggests that the expert fees requested here might be part of the "costs" allowed by § 1988 even if they are not part of the "attorney's fee." We are aware of no authority to support the counter-intuitive assertion that " [t] he term 'costs' has a different and broader meaning in fee-shifting statutes than it has in the cost statutes that apply to ordinary litigation," post, at 104. ”

“ By contrast, there has never been, to our knowledge, a practice of including the cost of expert services within attorneys' hourly rates. There was also no record in Jenkins-as there is a lengthy record here-of statutory usage that recognizes a distinction between the charges at issue and attorney's fees. We do not know of a single statute that shifts clerk or paralegal fees separately; and even those, such as the EAJA, which comprehensively define the assessable "litigation costs" make no separate mention of clerks or paralegals. ”

“ A party is not entitled needlessly to accumulate exorbitant legal fees with the expectation that the losing party will be called upon to pick up the entire tab. This court will exercise vigilance and pare down needless and unconscionably high legal fees. An award of attorney's fees is compensatory, not punitive, and we will not allow a threat of paying the opposing party's unreasonable legal fees to chill the assertion or defense of seemingly meritorious civil rights claims. ”

“ Congress enacted similarly phrased fee-shifting provisions in numerous statutes both before 1976, see, e.g., Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. § 1540 (g) (4) ("costs of litigation (including reasonable attorney and expert witness fees) ") , and afterwards, see, e.g., Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, 16 U.S.C. § 2632 (a) (1) ("reasonable attorneys' fees, expert witness fees, and other reasonable costs incurred in preparation and advocacy of [the litigant's] position" ) . ”

“ Your account, together with the statement, will be submitted by the first auditor, in such cases as he deems necessary, to the attorney general, in order to determine from the means afforded whether such special counsel fees should be allowed in the final settlement. Very respectfully, CHARLES DEVENS, Attorney General.' Previously to that time, such allowances by the court were accepted without alteration. The claimant's whole counsel fees would not exceed the maximum of $6,000 in any one year. ”

“ Nor does either explain why the majority has adopted a blanket rule that all intervenors must be treated like plaintiffs for purposes of fee liability.
This Court has never held that one is immune from liability for attorney's fees absent a finding of liability on the merits. On the contrary, we have expressly recognized that a district court's authority to award fees in civil rights cases does not require a finding that any party caused a civil rights injury. ”

“ Each agency shall review, and shall perform a cost-benefit analysis on, all provisions of any legislation or regulation that the agency proposes which provide for an award for attorney's fees in favor of only one class of parties, including those statutes which require the Government to pay a prevailing private party's attorney's fees. ”

“ Our treatment of States as "persons" under § 1983 is also exemplified by our decisions holding that ancillary relief, such as attorney's fees, may be awarded directly against the State. We have explained that "liability on the merits and responsibility for fees go hand in hand; where a defendant has not been prevailed against, either because of legal immunity or on the merits, § 1988 does not authorize a fee award against that defendant." ”

“ It follows that one who succeeds in obtaining an injunction under that Title should ordinarily recover an attorney's fee unless special circumstances would render such an award unjust. Because no such circumstances are present here, [5] the District Court on remand should include reasonable counsel fees as part of the costs to be assessed against the respondents. ”

“ It is well established that a federal court may consider collateral issues after an action is no longer pending. For example, district courts may award costs after an action is dismissed for want of jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. § 1919. This Court has indicated that motions for costs or attorney's fees are "independent proceeding [s] supplemental to the original proceeding and not a request for a modification of the original decree." ”

“ Exorbitant, unfounded, or procedurally defective fee applications-like any other improper position that may unreasonably protract proceedings are matters that the district court can recognize and discount. [10] Petitioners' fear that such requests will receive "automatic" approval is unfounded. In contrast, requiring courts to make a separate finding of "substantial justification" regarding the Government's opposition to fee requests would multiply litigation. "A request for attorney's fees should not result in a second major litigation." ”

“ The answer to this question is, of course, that attorneys seeking fees under § 1988 would have no basis for requesting separate compensation of such expenses unless this were the prevailing practice in the local community. The safeguard against the billing at a profit of secretarial services and paper clips is the discipline of the market.↑ It has frequently been recognized in the lower courts that paralegals are capable of carrying out many tasks, under the supervision of an attorney, that might otherwise be performed by a lawyer and billed at a higher rate. ”

“ Just damages for delay and single or double costs may be adjudged to the respondent in error, at the discretion of the court, in all cases where the judgment or decree is affirmed. [21]
Provision is also made that the district attorney shall receive, as compensation for his services, such fees as shall be taxed therefor in the respective courts, before which the suits or prosecutions shall be, and the act makes no other provision for his compensation. ”

“ In permitting fee awards against intervenors under these limited circumstances, the majority thus implicitly recognizes that a district court should be able to impose a fee award solely on the ground that the intervenor's claims did not warrant the added length and cost of the litigation.↑ The majority asserts that permitting fee assessments against intervenors will cause these parties to refrain from intervening in favor of attacking consent decrees through collateral actions in which the original Title VII plaintiffs will have no basis for claiming attorney's fees. ”

“ But the phrase “reasonable compensation for actual, necessary services rendered” neither specifically nor explicitly authorizes courts to shift the costs of adversarial litigation from one side to the other—in this case, from the attorneys seeking fees to the administrator of the estate—as most statutes that displace the American Rule do.
Instead, §330 (a) (1) provides compensation for all §327 (a) professionals—whether accountant, attorney, or auctioneer—for all manner of work done in service of the estate administrator. ”

“ The question in this case is whether, notwithstanding the omission of such an express authorization in 42 U.S.C. § 1988, Congress intended to authorize such recovery when it provided for "a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs." In my view, just as the omission of express authorization in a will does not preclude compensation to an estate's attorney, the omission of express authorization for expert witness fees in a fee-shifting provision should not preclude the award of expert witness fees. ”

“ The discretionary fee that 'may be allowed' to a district attorney for securing a conviction in a case of indictment for a crime tried by a jury is none the less an incident to the trial and judgment because its allowance is contingent upon a conviction. Both before and since the enactment of the statute of 1853, courts, in the exercise of their discretion, have allowed counsel fees in many cases without question when reviewed by this court. ”

“ We do not mean to say that there may not possibly be others, but we think it should appear by a clear inference that they were not intended to be included. The government can only be called upon to pay for services earned by the district attorney in his official capacity, and for the fees earned in the performance of these services he should account to the government in his fee and emolument returns, unless there be some express exception taking them out of the general rule. ”

“ Usually, these large fees result from a contingent-fee arrangement under which the attorney is entitled to a percentage (frequently one-third to one-half) of the accrued benefits. Since litigation necessarily involves a considerable lapse of time, in many cases large amounts of accrued benefits, and consequently large legal fees, are payable if the claimant wins his case. ”

“ It is essential to the interests of the government that in all suits, criminal and civil, in which it is interested, the attorney general shall be at liberty to call upon the district attorney to represent it; and his compensation therefor, whether measured by the fee bill or not, is clearly a part of the fees and emoluments of his office. ”

“ Attornies must produce receipts from under the hands of council, or other persons receiving fees, if requested by their clients, or they shall not be allowed them; and attornies must give in to their clients a true bill, under their own hand-writing, of all such fees, &c. one month before any action shall be brought against their clients for the same.
“No attorney shall delay his client’s suit from any advantage to himself, or demand more than his due fees and disbursements, under pain of a fine and disability to act. ”

“ The bill of fees of the clerk, marshal, and attorney, and the amount paid printers and witnesses, and lawful fees for exemplifications and copies of papers necessarily obtained for use on trials in cases where by law costs are recoverable in favor of the prevailing party, shall be taxed by a judge or clerk of the court, and be included in and form a portion of a judgment or decree against the losing party. ”

“ Maximum Dollar Limit in the Fee Agreement Process, 74 Fed. Reg. 6080 (2009) . Absent a fee agreement, subsection (a) (1) gives the agency authority to “prescribe the maximum fees which may be charged for services performed in connection with any claim” before the agency. If the claimant obtains a favorable agency determination, the agency may allot “a reasonable fee to compensate such attorney for the services performed by him.”
Subsection (a) (4) requires the agency to withhold up to 25% of past-due benefits for direct payment of any fee for representation before the agency ”

“ Baker had delivered me the schedules, and I continued the collections, because these schedules contained the name, the amount, the fee, and all the data pertaining to each case; and it was hard for me to reconcile the amount of fees that he said, and the amount of fees that were on the schedule; and I know often we had to pay out a large amount of our fees to other attorneys, as I frequently had paid one-half of a fee to a local attorney to work up the evidence, and I had supposed the great diminution of these fees from what I supposed, viz. ”

“ The absence of express statutory authorization for an award of attorneys' fees in a suit under § 14 (a) does not preclude such an award in cases of this type. In a suit by stockholders to recover short-swing profits for their corporation under § 16 (b) of the 1934 Act, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has awarded attorneys' fees despite the lack of any provision for them in § 16 (b) , 'on the theory that the corporation which has received the benefit of the attorney's services should pay the reasonable value thereof.' Smolowe v. ”