United States Second Circuit

In a suit brought under the Voting Rights Act, an order granting in part and denying in part plaintiffs' motion for attorney's fees is affirmed over plaintiffs' claims that the district court applied an unnecessarily strict "forum rule" wherein the court required plaintiffs to show extraordinary special circumstances before it would use in its "lodestar" calculation an hourly rate greater than the hourly rate charged by attorneys local to the district. The forum rule is clarified for proper application within the circuit. (Amended opinion)

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/24/2007
• Published 04/10/2008

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.