Michael W. Sole, Secretary, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, et al. v. T. A. Wyner, et al. (551 U.S. 74)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 4, 2007 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 551 U.S. 74 · 127 S. Ct. 2188
- Decided
- June 4, 2007
- Term
- October Term 2006
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Ginsburg
- Issue area
- Attorneys
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court. For private actions brought under 42 U. S. C. § 1983 and other specified measures designed to secure civil rights, Congress established an exception to the “American Rule” that “the prevailing litigant is ordinarily not entitled to collect [counsel fees] from the loser.” Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U. S. 240, 247 (1975). That exception, codified in 42 U. S. C. § 1988(b), authorizes federal district courts, in their discretion, to “allow the prevailing party . . . a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs.” This case presents a sole question: Does a plaintiff who gains a preliminary injunction after an abbreviated hearing, but is denied a permanent injunction after a dispositive adjudication on the merits, qualify as a “prevailing party” within the compass of § 1988(b)? Viewing the two stages of the litigation as discrete episodes, plaintiffs below, respondents here, maintain that they prevailed at the preliminary injunction stage, and therefore qualify for a fee award for their counsels’ efforts to obtain that interim relief. Defendants below, petitioners here, regard the case as a unit; they urge that a preliminary injunction holds no sway once fuller consideration yields rejection of the provisional order’s legal or factual underpinnings. We agree with the latter position and hold that a…
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