Murphy v. Onondaga County, 5:18-cv-01218

Kevin Murphy, a retired sergeant, filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against Onondaga County, its Sheriff’s Department, and several individuals, alleging civil rights violations, including retaliation claims.
Most of Murphy's claims were dismissed on March 18, 2022; only § 1983 retaliation claims against the County and Sheriff’s Department defendants remained.
The court later granted summary judgment in favor of the Sheriff’s defendants, and Murphy's remaining claims against the County defendants were dismissed sua sponte.
The court declined to retain supplemental jurisdiction over state-law claims, entering judgment accordingly; Murphy’s subsequent appeal was dismissed for failure to timely perfect it.
With appeal dismissed, Sheriff’s defendants moved for attorney’s fees and costs; Murphy opposed and sought a stay, which was denied as moot.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Attorney’s fees (prevailing party)	Action was not frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless	Plaintiffs’ claims were frivolous and fees are warranted	Denied: Action not proven frivolous
Taxation of costs	Costs should not be taxed against plaintiff	Prevailing parties presumptively entitled to recover costs	Granted: Costs awarded to defendants
Stay pending appeal	Sought to stay fee/cost decision pending appeal	Opposed, especially after appeal dismissed	Denied as moot (no pending appeal)
Detailed proof for attorney’s fees	--	Sought $129,264 fees without detailed time records	Denied: Fee request insufficiently supported

Davidson v. Keenan, 740 F.2d 129 (2d Cir. 1984) (Prevailing defendant may only recover fees in § 1983 actions if the suit was frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless)
Whitfield v. Scully, 241 F.3d 264 (2d Cir. 2001) (Rule 54(d) presumes costs will be awarded to the prevailing party)
Palm Bay Int’l, Inc. v. Marchesi Di Barolo S.P.A., 285 F.R.D. 225 (E.D.N.Y. 2012) (Prevailing party bears burden to justify taxation of costs)