But Outcome in Three Recent Cases Sends Only a Little Chill, as California Courts Rebuff Defendants’ Attempts.
Dan Levine reports in The Recorder on three recent efforts by successful defendants in civil rights cases to collect attorney’s fees from losing plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs who sued the Metropolitan Transportation Commission challenging San Francisco Bay Area transit policies earlier this year as racist lost their case. The MTA then requested Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte to award up to $1.5 M in attorney’s fees — a request that was eventually denied.
On May 11, 2009, we reported to our readers that we were quoted in The Daily Journal about a case in which test takers/losing plaintiffs faced the potential prospect of an award of attorney’s fees. However, on August 10, 2009, Judge Steven Brick of Alameda County denied the Association of American Medical Colleges’ motion to recover attorney’s fees from losing plaintiffs who had alleged they didn’t receive proper accommodation when taking the MCAT test.
And earlier in 2009, Chevron sought to recover $500 K in costs from Nigerian villagers who lost their wrongful death claims. USDC Judge Susan Illston Chevron’s request.
How many large awards of fees or costs would it take to send a “big chill” on civil rights cases?
BLAWG COMMENT. So far, non–prevailing plaintiffs seem to be substantially more at risk of incurring an award of fees or costs in Unruh Act cases, because the Unruh Act has not engrafted a “frivolousness” requirement for recovery of attorney’s fees. See our July 8, 2008 post on Molski v. Arciero Wine Group, 164 Cal. App. 4th 786 (2008).