Richardson v. City of Chicago

Dist. Ct. did not err in awarding plaintiff only $123,000 out of requested $675,000 in attorney fees associated with prosecution of section 1983 action that plaintiff filed against various police officers and City of Chicago arising out of plaintiff’s arrest on assault and battery charges. Record showed that plaintiff did not prevail on 38 out of 39 claims and was awarded only $1 in nominal damages and $3,000 in punitive damages against only one defendant-officer. As such, Dist. Ct. could properly reduce said fee request by 80% based on limited success of lawsuit, where plaintiff’s counsel had failed to keep records that would distinguish between successful and unsuccessful claims. Moreover, Ct. rejected plaintiff’s request to make defendant-City liable for said fees, where City was completely exonerated in said lawsuit, and where City’s only substantive obligation was to indemnify police officer for instant nominal award, which would not otherwise trigger any obligation to pay attorney fees under section 1988. Also, plaintiff was properly required to pay City’s costs to defend itself in instant lawsuit under Rule 54(d)(1), where City had prevailed against plaintiff.