Morjal v. City of Chicago

Dist. Ct. did not err in awarding plaintiff $2,000 in additional attorney fees generated during contested fee petition under 42 USC section 1988. Plaintiff accepted defendants’ Rule 68(a) settlement offer in plaintiff’s section 1983 action, and while defendants argued that terms of settlement offer precluded plaintiff from obtaining any fees generated after date of acceptance of settlement offer, terms of settlement offer required defendants to allow judgment to be taken against them in “total amount of reasonable attorney fees.” As such, instant fee award was permissible since Dist. Ct. had found that plaintiffs incurred $2,000 in fees that were generated when responding to defendants’ unreasonable challenges of plaintiff’s fee request.