Linda Senn v. Kyle Smith

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

LINDA SENN, No. 21-35293 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. v. 3:18-cv-01814- HZ

KYLE SMITH,

Defendant-Appellant,

ORDER

and

CITY OF PORTLAND; LARRY

GRAHAM; JEFFREY MCDANIEL;

MULTNOMAH COUNTY; JOHN DOES,

1–10, Defendants.

Filed June 8, 2022

Before: Susan P. Graber, Carlos T. Bea, and Milan D. Smith, Jr., Circuit Judges.

Order SUMMARY *

Civil Rights/Attorneys’ Fees

The panel denied a motion for attorney’s fees sought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988 following the panel’s decision, in an unpublished disposition, affirming the denial of qualified immunity to a deputy sergeant who allegedly violated plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment rights to be free of excessive force. Senn v. Smith, 2022 WL 822198 (9th Cir. March 18, 2022) (unpublished).

The panel denied fees because plaintiff was not a “prevailing party” within the meaning of § 1988(b). The panel published this order to reaffirm that a plaintiff who accomplishes no more than to defeat a defendant’s motion for qualified immunity is not entitled to attorney’s fees pursuant to § 1988(b),…