Henderson v. Carter CA2/5

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant, Dexter Carter, appeals from an amended judgment on a special verdict awarding attorney fees to plaintiff, Bill Henderson. The award of attorney fees followed a favorable plaintiff’s verdict in a case litigated pursuant to title 42 United States Code section 1983 (“section 1983”).1 Plaintiff was awarded attorney fees of $109,977. Plaintiff eventually sought $549,885 in attorney fees. Defendant contends the trial court abused its discretion by not further reducing or denying plaintiff’s award of attorney fees. We affirm the amended judgment.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

We provided a detailed factual background of this case in a prior opinion. (Henderson v. Carter (Aug. 20, 2013, B241994) [nonpub. opn.].) We need not repeat it here. Plaintiff previously appealed the trial court’s aforementioned reduction of his attorney fees request. We found the trial court did not abuse its discretion. On April 27, 2011, plaintiff prevailed in a jury retrial against defendant and was awarded $17,940.80. On August 25, 2011, plaintiff moved for an award of reasonable attorney fees pursuant to section 1988. Plaintiff’s attorney billed at a rate of $250 to $450 per hour over…