Juan Segundo, Jr. Jean Chormicle Kapp Lisa Bliele Paula Bliele v. Rancho Mirage City City of Cathedral City

This is an appeal from the district court’s denial of attorneys’ fees. In an earlier appeal, we held that plaintiffs should prevail on the merits of their claim that the City of Rancho Mirage’s rent control ordinance is not enforceable against appellants because the mobile home park they operate is located on Indian land. Segundo v. City of Rancho Mirage, 813 F.2d 1387 (9th Cir.1987) (Segundo I).

In Segundo I we also held that the plaintiffs were not entitled to attorneys’ fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 because they had not prevailed on any individual rights claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . Segundo I, 813 F.2d at 1394 . Rather, they had prevailed only because of federal preemption of state law and local regulation affecting Indian lands. We noted that the section 1988 fee issue was controlled by White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Williams, 810 F.2d 844, 852 (9th Cir.1985), cert. denied sub nom. White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Arizona State Transp. Board, 479 U.S. 1060 , 107 S.Ct. 940 , 93 L.Ed.2d 990 (1987). Segundo I, 813 F.2d at 1394 .

Upon remand to the district court for entry of judgment in plaintiffs’ favor, plaintiffs sought attorneys’ fees under section 17 of the challenged…