Daily

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

On October 5, 1972, this court ruled on plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and granted declaratory relief which upheld the constitutional rights of individuals, not suspected of any crime, to be free from unwarranted police searches and seizures. The Stanford Daily v. Zurcher, 353 F.Supp. 124 (N.D. Cal.1972). Subsequently, on August 10, 1973, the court granted plaintiffs’ motion for an award of reasonable attorneys’ fees. The Stanford Daily v. Zurcher, 366 F.Supp. 18 (N.D.Cal.1973). Now, the court must determine what amount actually constitutes reasonable attorneys’ fees.

The federal appellate courts, recognizing the difficulty of weighing the factors relevant to the determination of reasonable fees, grant federal district courts wide discretion in setting attorneys’ fees. See, e.g., Kelly v. Guinn, 456 F.2d 100, 111 (9th Cir. 1972); Cato v. Parham, 403 F.2d 12, 16 (8th Cir. 1968); Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. v. Goldwyn, 328 F.2d 190, 221 (9th Cir. 1964). However, district courts’ exercise of this grant of discretionary authority must be kept within certain evidentiary bounds. See, e.g., Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc., 488 F.2d 714 (5th…