Title VII Claims Do Not Have To Be Asserted in Federal Case Seeking Only Fees.
In Porter v. Winter, Case No. 07-17120 (9th Cir. May 5, 2010) (for publication), the Ninth Circuit determined that federal courts have subject matter jurisdiction over claims brought solely by a prevailing plaintiff to recover attorney’s fees incurred in Title VII administrative proceedings under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). (See also New York Gaslight Club, Inc. v. Carey, 447 U.S. 54, 66 (1980).)
The Ninth Circuit, in doing so, rejected the argument that Carey only allowed subject matter jurisdiction where plaintiff’s complaint alleged both substantive Title VII claims in addition to a claim for fees. The federal court of appeals sided with the Eighth Circuit in Jones v. American State Bank, 857 F.2d 494, 497 (8th Cir. 1988) on this issue, departing company with the contrary view of the Fourth Circuit in Chris v. Tenet, 221 F.3d 648, 654 (4th Cir. 2000).
Defendant also contended that Carey had been limited by the Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in North Carolina Department of Transportation v. Crest Street Community Council, Inc., 479 U.S. 6 (1986). The Ninth Circuit held that Crest Street did not modify or overrule Carey, agreeing with the stances on this issue of the Eighth Circuit in Jones, supra, 857 F.2d at 498 & n.10 and the Tenth Circuit in Slade v. U.S. Postal Service, 952 357, 360-61 (10th Cir. 1991). On this issue, the Ninth Circuit sided with the two other circuit courts as against a contrary determination, again by the Fourth Circuit, in Chris, supra, 221 F.3d at 654-55.