?An attorney representing Fayette County filed court paperwork that argues that nearly $440,000 in attorney fees to represent the estate of a man who had his children taken away from him are unreasonable and excessive.
Marie M. Jones, who represented the county in a suit brought against Children and Youth Services, argued that the hourly rates of $500 and $325 charged by two lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union were too high.
Those attorneys, who worked on the case on behalf of John Doe, and ultimately his estate after his November death, asked a judge to have Fayette County reimburse $445,060 in legal fees and court-related costs for work done during the course of the case since it was filed in 2008.
The ACLU attorneys, a third private attorney and a paralegal submitted $439,130 in bills. The remaining was incurred in court-related costs, according to the May filing.
Last month, a federal jury awarded Doe?s estate $105,000 in damages for constitutional violations committed by CYS. In 2006, the agency precluded him from living with his three children because he was having a relationship with a 16-year-old who is unrelated but was living in his home. The suit was filed under the name ?John Doe? to protect the children involved, and his identity was not released.
Doe was allowed to have supervised contact with his children ? ages 3, 4 and 6 at the time ? until 2007, when a second caseworker precluded him from having all contact with the children. According to court filings, Doe was unable to have contact with the children for 11 months.
That changed when the ACLU filed suit on Doe?s behalf in 2008, and the agency agreed to let Doe and his children resume contact.
Jones said there?s nothing to support the $500 hourly claimed by attorney Wiltold ?Vic? Walczak and the $325 hourly that Sara J. Rose claimed. Both are ACLU attorneys.
She noted that Walczak ?has not proffered any evidence of any civil rights attorney charging his clients $500 per hour, any evidence of any judge in this district awarding $500 per hour in any other case, or any evidence upon which this court could conclude that $500 is the market rate in this jurisdiction.?
?Indeed, at $400 per hour, attorney Walczak?s hourly rate would be nearly double the hourly rate of defense counsel in the same case,? Jones wrote.
Jones also argued that the hours billed for work on Doe?s case are excessive, and in some cases, redundant. She said there were instances when both attorneys went to meetings associated with the case, and said that it was unnecessary to use two attorneys to accomplish the same task.
Jones also argued that they billed too many hours for conferences between themselves and said that there were excessive hours billed for drafting and reviewing legal documents in the case.
U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose will rule on the request for fees at a later date.
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