I recently had the pleasure of reading an opinion from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania refusing to "cheapen" an attorney’s fee petition, citing the successful plaintiff’s award as an "essential part of enforcement of our civil rights laws." The case, Perkins v. Shinseki, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17833 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 8, 2013), illuminates how some courts in this area consider requests for attorney fees.
In Perkins, U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson awarded fees at the rate of $500 per hour for summary judgment, trial preparation and trial work, and $400 per hour for the trial attorney’s other work, even though the attorney, David Shapiro, of Swick & Shapiro in Washington, D.C., achieved partial success for his client, Tyrone Perkins.
