Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Touro Law Review

Publication Date

2003

Abstract

In 2001, the United States Supreme Court decided Buckhannon Board & Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, which destroyed the so-called catalyst theory. The catalyst theory refers to the bringing of a lawsuit, but prior to the conclusion of the suit, the defendant settles with the plaintiff according to the plaintiffs basic original demand for relief. Every circuit except the Fourth Circuit had held that if you are a catalyst for a change in the defendant's conduct, you "prevailed" in the suit. Therefore, the plaintiff should be entitled to legal fees. In Buckhannon, the Court confirmed that a party must prevail in order to be entitled to legal fees, and a voluntary change by the defendant does not establish the legal requirement for obtaining fees. In other words, a party must obtain an enforceable judgment or a consent decree, which is the functional equivalent of a judgment, before it will be considered a prevailing party relative to fees.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.