United States Second Circuit

In suit alleging Albany County-s 2002 legislative redistricting plan violated section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, partial grant of attorney fees for plaintiffs is affirmed, even though the district court may have applied the forum rule in too unyielding a fashion. While the district court should generally use the prevailing hourly rate in the district where it sits to calculate the presumptively reasonable fee, the district court may adjust this base hourly rate to account for a plaintiff's reasonable decision to retain out-of-district counsel, just as it may adjust the base hourly rate to account for other case-specific variables.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/12/2007
• Published 07/12/2007

Judges

• Before:  JACOBS, Chief Judge, WALKER, Circuit Judge, O'CONNOR, Associate Justice Retired.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Mitchell A. Karlan (Mark E. Bini and Michelle Craven, on the brief), Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Thomas J. O'Connor, Napierski, Vandenburgh & Napierski, LLP, Albany, NY, for Defendants-Appellees.