Keith

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ COUNSEL REASONABLE ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND REIMBURSEMENT FOR CERTAIN COSTS AND EXPENSES

This matter is before the court on plaintiffs’ application for an award of reasonable attorneys’ fees and reimbursement for certain costs and expenses.

This environmental protection and civil rights suit was filed in February 1972 by persons living in the path of the proposed Century Freeway, and by the N.A.A.C.P., Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, City of Hawthorne, and others. Plaintiffs, among other things, asked the court to halt work on the proposed Century Freeway project, which would have displaced about 21,000 persons, until governmental officials complied with the following: federal and state statutes enacted to protect the human environment; federal statutes enacted to protect homeowners, tenants, and businesses forced to relocate; and federal statutes enacted to secure public participation in the decision making process through public hearings. Evidence presented to the court in May 1973, during hearings on plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, revealed that governmental officials had given little consideration to the…