Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. City of Turlock

ORDER RE: DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR ATTORNEY’S FEES (Doc. 224)

I. INTRODUCTION

Prevailing Defendants, the City of Tur-lock and the Turlock City Council (collectively, “the City” or “Turlock”), move for an award of attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 . Plaintiffs, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust (collectively, “Wal-Mart”), oppose the motion.

II. BACKGROUND

The factual background of this case has been discussed at length in several previous decisions. For the purposes of this motion, only a brief summary of facts, most of which where undisputed throughout the litigation, is necessary.

Wal-Mart alleged that its representatives originally began negotiations with the City in December 2002 to establish a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Turlock; that these negotiations appeared likely to succeed as late as July 2003, when Wal-Mart purchased the real property for the prospective Supercenter; and that, at about that time, local grocery store owners learned of Wal-Mart’s plans, and began lobbying the Council to exclude Wal-Mart from Turlock in order to protect themselves from Wal-Mart’s competition.

On December 16, 2003, and January 13, 2004, the Turlock City…