Pedro Quesada, and Hugh R. Manes, Real Party in Interest v. Ronald Thomason, Miles J. Sutton, Rubin A. Mendoza, Robert Nichols, Los Angeles County

Pedro Quesada sued four Los Angeles County sheriffs under section 1983 for a brutal beating he received at their hands. He originally sought $50,000 in damages, though he later decreased this request to $25,000. Prior to trial, the County settled the case, giving Quesada $17,500. Quesa-da had previously agreed to pay his attorney a percentage of any monetary recovery. Quesada filed a motion for statutory attorneys’ fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 , and submitted the usual documentation, including time records indicating that his attorney spent 147.3 hours preparing for trial, and a statement that this attorney usually charged $150.00 per hour. The County opposed any award of attorneys’ fees, and argued in the alternative that the case was worth no more than $100.00 per hour, and required at most 25-30 hours of preparation.

After an evidentiary hearing, the district judge awarded $7,500 in attorneys’ fees. Plaintiffs requested billing would have generated $22,095. The county’s calculation would have yielded an award of $3,000. The judge explained that although counsel’s hours did exceed the amount of the award, and the reasonable value of counsel’s services exceeded $50.00 per hour,…