Owner Rejected $100,000 Settlement Offer from City, But Only Garnered $2 in Damages and $39,500 in Fees/Other Costs.
This one was too much fun to pass on, involving Mr. Bob Davis’ battle with Seattle, as reported by Rick Anderson in an August 10, 2012 post in seattleweekly.com.
Mr. Davis, a would-be strip club owner, had a nice run until recently, winning $850,000 in damages in lawsits against Seattle and Bothell for not allowing him to open nudie dance joints. (He also won some attorney’s fees for these wins, although not all that he requested.) Given that Mr. Davis never had to open a strip club, these were not bad returns on investments at all.
Well, Mr. Davis had a very recent setback. He wanted to open a club at Cyndy’s House of Pancakes in north Seattle, a much different land use “flip” that was rejected by Seattle. (Sorry about the pun.)
German apple pancakes at Millie’s Restaurant. Carol M. Highsmith collection. Library of Congress.
He then sued Seattle and turned down a $100,000 settlement offer, trying to win $1.6 million from Seattle in the Cyndy’s lawsuit. However, a district judge awarded him and his affiliate company only a total of $2 in damages (yes, $2). Mr. Davis, undaunted, moved to recoup $138,000 in attorney’s fees and costs.
The same district judge found that $42,974.17 was a fair fees/costs award based on Mr. Davis’ limited success on two minor claims. However, he also deducted $4,000 in post-settlement fees claimed by Mr. Davis after he rejected the $100,000 settlement offer from the city. That meant, at the end of the day, that Mr. Davis and his affiliate company garnered $39,500 in legal fees/expenses and $2 in damages, even though his requested fees were $138,000 and he lost over $60,000 by not accepting the city’s pretrial settlement offer. Ouch!
