Martin Gonzalez, Sr. v. City of Maywood

42 U.S.C. § 1988 authorizes district courts to award the prevailing party in civil rights litigation a “reasonable attorney’s fee.” Several important principles bear on the district court’s determination of a reasonable fee amount. First, the court must compute the fee award using an hourly rate that is based on the “prevailing market rates in the relevant community.” Dang v. Cross, 422 F.3d 800, 813 (9th Cir.2005). Second, when a district court reduces either the number of hours or the lodestar by a certain percentage greater than 10%, it must provide a clear and concise explanation for why it chose the specific percentage to apply. See Gates v. Deukmejian, 987 F.2d 1392, 1398 (9th Cir.1992); Moreno v. City of Sacramento, 584 F.8d 1106, 1112 (9th Cir.2008). Finally, it is not per se unreasonable for the prevailing party in a civil rights case to be awarded an amount of attorney’s fees that exceeds the amount of money recovered by his or her client. Because the district court did not apply these principles when determining the amount of Plaintiffs’ attorney’s fee award, we must vacate and remand.

BACKGROUND

The dispute over attorney’s fees in this appeal arises from the…