Friends of Gualala River v. Gualala Redwood Timber, LLC

1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 8 FRIENDS OF GUALALA RIVER, et al., Case No. 20-cv-06453-JD

9 Plaintiffs,

ORDER RE ATTORNEY’S FEES

v. 10

11 GUALALA REDWOOD TIMBER, LLC, Defendant. 12

13 14 As a coda to a long-running environmental dispute over a logging project in a privately 15 owned forest on the Gualala River floodplain, defendant Gualala Redwood Timber, LLC (GRT) 16 asks for an award of attorney’s fees and litigation costs against plaintiffs Friends of Gualala River 17 and Center for Biological Diversity, under the discretionary fee-shifting provision in the 18 Endangered Species Act (ESA). Dkt. No. 161 (citing 16 U.S.C. § 1540(g)). There is no question 19 that GRT prevailed at virtually every turn in the case. The Court denied plaintiffs’ application for 20 a preliminary injunction (Dkt. No. 100), granted GRT’s motion for judgment on the pleadings 21 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) (Dkt. No. 101), and ultimately dismissed the case and 22 entered a final judgment in its favor (Dkt. Nos. 147, 154). Even so, the Court cannot say the…