Davis Wright Tremaine is asking for court-awarded attorney's fees in the school desegregation case decided by the Supreme Court in June in which DWT represented the parents against the Seattle Public Schools. Law firm wants school district to pay $1.8M, Seattle Times, Sept. 6, 2007.
The school district argues that the parents were not the "prevailing party" within the terms of the attorney's fee statute, since Justice Kennedy's concurrence supported the school district's position in part.
The Ninth Circuit will decide the fee application.
I assume that the attorney's fees statute they're proceeding under is 42 U.S.C. § 1988:
In any action or proceeding to enforce a provision of sections 1981, 1981a, 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986 of this title, * * * the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs * * *The case is Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, No. 05-908, slip opinion pdf (June 28, 2007). See post. For more on plurality opinions, see this post.
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