Plaintiff Webb, represented by private counsel, filed a class action suit on May 21, 1991 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, challenging overcrowding conditions at the Ada County Jail. Through various court orders and a partial consent decree, Webb prevailed on several issues. The District Court (Judge Edward J. Lodge) awarded Webb $224,308 in attorney's fees, only a percentage of his requested post-judgment attorney's fees.

The plaintiffs appealed the attorney's fees issue to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which affirmed in part and remanded in part. Webb v. Ada County, 195 F.3d 524 (9th Cir. 1999). The court held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) did not apply to the request for attorney's fees for work completed prior to the Act's effective date, and attorney's fees for services performed after the PLRA's effective date were subject to the limitations contained in the PLRA. On remand, the United States District Court for the District of Idaho (Judge Lodge) again awarded only a percentage of the requested fees. Plaintiff appealed again to the Ninth Circuit (Judge Arthur Lawrence Alarcon), which affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded, holding that the use of $125 hourly rate for fees incurred prior to the adoption of PLRA was within the district court's discretion, post-judgment fees were compensable under the PLRA, a $75 baseline hourly rate applied for the purposes of the PLRA, and the district court failed to explain adequately its reductions in requested fees. Webb v. Ada County, 285 F.3d 829 (9th Cir. 2002), cert denied, 537 U.S. 948 (2002). On remand, the district court awarded nearly $30,000 in additional attorney's fees to the plaintiffs. PACER does not contain a specific calculation of these fees, but they were awarded in accordance with the 9th Circuit decision.

David Terry - 03/08/2006


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