Albert FARBOTKO, Aleksandra Farbotko, John Farbotko, Eric Hunt, Kirk Lamberti, Harold Boyle, Marion Elder, Donald Favreau, Madeline Favreau, and Lance Macomber, Plaintiffs, Lucie Akey and Christopher McDonald, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CLINTON COUNTY OF NEW YORK and William Bingel, in his Official Capacity as Clinton County Administrator, Defendants-Appellees.
Docket No. 04-6314-CV.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.
Argued: October 7, 2005. Decided: December 23, 2005.
433 F.3d 204
Robert A. Rausch, Maynard, O‘Connor, Smith & Catalinotto, LLP, Albany, NY, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before: WALKER, Chief Judge, FEINBERG and STRAUB, Circuit Judges.
FEINBERG, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiffs-appellants Lucie Akey and Christopher McDonald appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (David R. Homer, Magistrate Judge) granting their application for attorney‘s fees and costs pursuant to
Plaintiffs-appellants challenge the district court‘s use of an hourly rate of $175 as the prevailing market rate for attorney‘s fees in the Northern District of New York. They claim that the district court failed to consider evidence of prevailing market rates and instead relied solely on the rate fixed in earlier caselaw. They further claim that the district court erred in finding no exceptional circumstances justifying a higher hourly rate for work performed on appeal. We agree with plaintiffs-appellants that the district court — at least when presented with evidence of a divergence between the rate used in prior caselaw and the prevailing market rate — is required to make findings of fact as to the prevailing rate and apply it in its award calculation. But we disagree that any justification exists here for awarding a higher rate in connection with services rendered on appeal. We vacate the award and remand for determination of the reasonable hourly rate and recalculation of the award accordingly.
The underlying litigation has already been the subject of one appeal to this Court, see Akey v. Clinton County, 375 F.3d 231 (2d Cir. 2004) (“Farbotko III“). The events giving rise to that appeal are set forth in full in two opinions of the district court, see Farbotko v. Clinton County, No. 99-CV-1946 (DRH), 2003 WL 21303256 (N.D.N.Y. Feb. 28, 2003) (”Farbotko II“); Farbotko v. Clinton County, 168 F. Supp. 2d 31 (N.D.N.Y. 2001) (”Farbotko I“). Proceedings in the district court have been extensive and involved both a jury and a bench trial.
Briefly, in November 1999 plaintiffs filed a
At trial in July 2002, the jury found appellees entitled to a presumption of receipt of the notices of foreclosure, but also found the presumption rebutted by those class members who could establish that their notices had been sent to an incorrect address. The jury also found in favor of two plaintiffs whose claims were presented at trial.
Following the jury trial, notice of the class action was given. Plaintiffs-appellants were two of 18 property owners who sought to join the class action. The claims of several of these 18 property owners were either settled or dismissed, while the remainder were by stipulation adjudicated at a bench trial. At that one-day trial in February 2003, the district judge dismissed the claims of the remaining property owners, including those of plaintiffs-appellants. See Farbotko II, 2003 WL 21303256.
On appeal, this Court in July 2004 reversed the district court as to the claims of plaintiffs-appellants Akey and McDonald. We found that as to each, the means used by appellees in addressing the foreclosure notices did not satisfy their due process obligations. Farbotko III, 375 F.3d at 235-37. Chief Judge Walker dissented as to McDonald‘s claim and would have reversed as to Akey‘s claim only. Id. at 237-38 (Walker, C.J., dissenting).
In August 2004, plaintiffs-appellants filed an application for attorney‘s fees in the district court for work performed in connection with the bench trial and the successful appeal.1 Plaintiffs-appellants requested $41,129 in attorney‘s fees, representing compensation for 41.7 hours of work performed in the district court at a rate of $200/hour; 107.7 hours of work performed in this Court at a rate of $250/hour, and 17.0 hours of travel time to this Court at a rate of $125/hour. Additionally, plaintiffs-appellants requested an upward enhancement of the entire fee award by 10 percent.
In a memorandum of law submitted in support of their fee application, plaintiffs-appellants conceded that courts in the Northern District routinely awarded $175 per hour, but argued that these rates no longer prevailed, citing one Northern District case and various decisions from neighboring districts awarding higher hourly rates.2 Plaintiffs-appellants also relied on two cases in which their counsel had previously been awarded fees — a Western District of Texas case awarding counsel $150 per hour in 1991 and a Northern District bankruptcy case awarding counsel $200 per hour in 2002.3 Plaintiffs-appellants also submitted the attorney affidavits that supported counsel‘s fee application in the bankruptcy case.4
The district court accepted many of appellees’ arguments, reducing the number of hours claimed and ultimately downwardly adjusting the fee award by 40%, a reflection of what it considered to be the “limited success” of the first appeal to this Court. Farbotko v. Clinton County, No. 99-CV-1946 (DRH), slip op. at 11-12 (N.D.N.Y. Nov. 10, 2004) (”Farbotko Fee Award II“).5 As to the hourly rate, the district court made no mention of the evidence presented by plaintiffs-appellants of the rates prevailing in the Northern District. Instead, referring to two Northern District cases6 and the first fee award in the instant case, and crediting counsel‘s representations of his extensive experience, the district court stated: “In this district the maximum hourly rate generally allowed for attorneys with experience comparable to that of [plaintiffs-appellants‘] counsel is $175. Given these precedents and in light of the experience and demonstrated ability of plaintiffs’ counsel, an hourly rate of $175 appears appropriate and will be applied.” Id. at 9 (citations omitted). The district court further rejected plaintiffs-appellants’ argument that “exceptional circumstances” justified awarding a higher hourly rate for work performed in this Court in the first appeal. Id. at 10. Accordingly, the district court used an hourly rate of $175 as to all work performed, and one-half that hourly rate for travel. Id. The final amount of the fee award was $10,962, and $907.13 was also awarded in costs. Id. at 13.
On appeal, plaintiffs-appellants focus primarily on the district court‘s determination of the applicable hourly rate. No challenge is made to the exclusion of hours, to the 40% downward adjustment of the amount of fees awarded, or to the amount of costs awarded. Plaintiffs-appellants argue that the district court erred in failing to consider evidence of the prevailing market rate and relied instead entirely on prior caselaw in fixing the hourly rate. Plaintiffs-appellants also argue that the district court erred in concluding that no “exceptional circumstances” were present meriting an upward adjustment in the hourly rate for work performed in this Court. Plaintiffs-appellants ask us to determine that the applicable hourly rate is $250 as to all work performed and award fees accordingly, or, in the alternative, remand to the district court for reconsideration of the hourly rate or rates to be applied and a recalculation of the fee award.
II. DISCUSSION
A. Standard of Review
Attorney‘s fees are awarded to parties prevailing on claims under
B. Determination of a Reasonable Hourly Rate
The district court began its inquiry by calculating a “lodestar” or the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation times a reasonable hourly rate. Pennsylvania v. Del. Valley Citizens’ Council for Clean Air, 478 U.S. 546, 565 (1986); Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 888 (1984). Acknowledging the presumption of reasonableness that attaches to the lodestar, the district court then proceeded to consider whether an adjustment of the lodestar was nonetheless warranted to arrive at a reasonable fee. See Blum, 465 U.S. at 897. In so doing, the district court was careful to state its findings in reducing the number of hours claimed, Farbotko Fee Award II, slip. op. at 5-8, as well as to provide a not unreasonable explanation for reducing the award by 40% due to what it considered the “limited success” of the appeal, id. at 11-12.
But a reasonable hourly rate is not itself a matter of binding precedent. Rather, under established caselaw, a reasonable hourly rate is the “prevailing market rate,” i.e., the rate “prevailing in the [relevant] community for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable skill, experience, and reputation.” Blum, 465 U.S. at 896 & n. 11; see also Cohen v. W. Haven Bd. of Police Comm‘rs, 638 F.2d 496, 506 (2d Cir. 1980) (“[F]ees that would be charged for similar work by attorneys of like skill in the area” are the “starting point for determination of a reasonable award.“). The relevant community, in turn, is the district in which the court sits. Polk v. N.Y. State Dep‘t of Corr. Servs., 722 F.2d 23, 25 (2d Cir. 1983).
Thus, “a reasonable hourly rate” is not ordinarily ascertained simply by reference to rates awarded in prior cases. It is true that the district court in TM Park Avenue Associates — a case on which the district court here partially relied — did not simply rely on prior cases, but also considered evidence outside the caselaw in determining that the prevailing market rate in 1999 was $175 per hour. See TM Park Ave. Assocs. v. Pataki, 44 F. Supp. 2d 158, 166-67 (N.D.N.Y. 1999), vacated on other grounds, 214 F.3d 344 (2d Cir. 2000). The district court here, however, had significant evidence before it that this rate no longer prevailed. Recycling rates awarded in prior cases without considering whether they continue to prevail may create disparity between compensation available under
Instead, the equation in the caselaw of a “reasonable hourly fee” with the “prevailing market rate” contemplates a case-specific inquiry into the prevailing market rates for counsel of similar experience and skill to the fee applicant‘s counsel. This may, of course, include judicial notice of the rates awarded in prior cases and the court‘s own familiarity with the rates prevailing in the district. See, e.g., A.R. ex rel. R.V. v. N.Y. City Dep‘t of Educ., 407 F.3d 65, 82 (2d Cir. 2005); Miele v. N.Y. State Teamsters Conference Pension & Ret. Fund, 831 F.2d 407, 409 (2d Cir. 1987). But determination of the prevailing market rate in the relevant community also requires an evaluation of evidence proffered by the parties. As this Court stated in the analogous — although not identical — context of fee awards under section 505 of the Copyright Act,
To be sure, the fee applicant has the burden of showing by “satisfactory evidence — in addition to the attorney‘s own affidavits” — that the requested hourly rates are the prevailing market rates. Blum, 465 U.S. at 896 n. 11. Appellees argue on appeal that the evidence plaintiffs-appellants put before the district court was insufficient to support their requested rates. They claim that the affidavits submitted by plaintiffs-appellants are either unreliable — because they were prepared in connection with unrelated proceedings — or irrelevant — because services rendered in connection with bankruptcy litigation are not sufficiently similar to the services rendered here to provide a point of comparison. Appellees further argue that the affidavits submitted by plaintiffs-appellants nowhere supported an hourly rate of $250 for work performed before this Court; that one affidavit actually indicated that an hourly rate of $175 was “comparable to” the market rate; and that both affidavits gave $200 per hour as the prevailing market rate for attorneys in Syracuse and Albany — metropolitan areas that may not accurately reflect the rate prevailing across the entire Northern District. It may be that the district court considered and simply rejected plaintiffs-appellants’ evidence of higher prevailing market rates.9 But on the record before us, we cannot be sufficiently sure of that. We do not mean to suggest that the courts of the Northern District have erred in any case where they may have relied exclusively on an hourly rate set in prior caselaw in fixing fee awards. Such reliance may be proper in the absence of any credible evidence by the fee applicant of a higher prevailing market rate. In any event, only this case is before us. And as to this case alone, the decision of the district court does not provide an adequate basis for review of its reliance on an hourly rate set by exclusive reference to the caselaw where contrary evidence was proffered by the fee applicants.
Accordingly, we vacate the fee award and remand to the district court for findings of fact as to the rate “prevailing in the [Northern District] for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable skill, experience, and reputation” and, if necessary, recalculation of the fee award. In so doing and consistent with the foregoing analysis, the district court may have recourse to any evidentiary submissions by the parties (including holding an evidentiary hearing, where necessary, to resolve factual disputes), take judicial notice of the rates awarded in other cases (including its own recommendation of $210 adopted in Arbor Hill Fee Award, if probative),11 and rely on its own familiarity with the prevailing market rates in the Northern District.
We do not disturb the fee award in any other respect,12 and for the reasons stated below, find that the hourly rate should not differ for work performed on appeal. Thus, we anticipate that if the district court concludes that the prevailing market rate differs from the $175 previously awarded, it need do no more than “plug” the newly determined hourly rate into its original calculations to arrive at a reasonable fee award.
C. Hourly Rate for Services Rendered on Appeal
Plaintiffs-appellants argue in the alternative that even if $250 per hour is not the prevailing market rate in the Northern District, the district court erred in determining that there were no exceptional circumstances meriting an hourly rate of $250 for work performed on appeal. Plaintiffs-appellants apparently cite to this Court‘s most recent decision in Arbor Hill Concerned Citizens Neighborhood Ass‘n v. County of Albany, 369 F.3d 91, 96 (2d Cir. 2004) (per curiam), for the proposition that exceptional circumstances may justify a higher hourly rate for work performed on appeal.
III. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the award of attorney‘s fees and costs and remand for determination of the reasonable hourly rate and recalculation of the award accordingly.