Thomas

This is an appeal and cross-appeal from the district court’s denial of the parties’ respective motions for attorney’s fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988 (b).

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs, residents of Tacoma, Washington, brought a civil rights lawsuit pursuant to, inter alia, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging multiple causes of action against the Tacoma Police Department (“TPD”), the City of Tacoma, three City officials, and twenty-two individually named police officers. Based on several incidents in which Plaintiffs were allegedly abused and harassed by police officers from the TPD, Plaintiffs brought numerous causes of action which ranged from violation of federal civil rights statutes to abuse of process.

During the course of litigation, several dispositive motions were filed by Defendants, many of which were granted. As a result, by the time of trial, three of the original four Plaintiffs maintained claims against the City and eight police officers stemming from ten incidents. The district court trifurcated the trial, grouping related causes of action into separate proceedings: (1) Plaintiffs’ claims against the individual officers, (2) Plaintiffs’ claims against the City for its…