Dale Farrar and Pat Smith, Co-administrators of Estate of Joseph D. Farrar, Deceased v. William P. Hobby, JR. (506 U.S. 103)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 14, 1992 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 506 U.S. 103 · 113 S. Ct. 566
- Decided
- December 14, 1992
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Attorneys
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. We decide today whether a civil rights plaintiff who receives a nominal damages award is a “prevailing party” eligible to receive attorney’s fees under 42 U. S. C. § 1988. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed an award of attorney’s fees on the ground that a plaintiff receiving only nominal damages is not a prevailing party. Although we hold that such a plaintiff is a prevailing party, we affirm the denial of fees in this case. I Joseph Davis Farrar and Dale Lawson Farrar owned and operated Artesia Hall, a school in Liberty County, Texas, for delinquent, disabled, and disturbed teens. After an Artesia Hall student died in 1973, a Liberty County grand jury returned a murder indictment charging Joseph Farrar with willful failure to administer proper medical treatment and failure to provide timely hospitalization. The State of Texas also obtained a temporary injunction that closed Artesia Hall. Respondent William P. Hobby, Jr., then Lieutenant Governor of Texas, participated in the events leading to the closing of Artesia Hall. After Joseph Farrar was indicted, Hobby issued a press release criticizing the Texas Department of Public Welfare and its licensing procedures. He urged the department’s director to investigate Artesia Hall and accompanied Governor Dolph Briscoe on an inspection of the school. Finally, he…
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