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Heather v. Northampton Area School District

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
Aug 13, 2007
CIVIL ACTION NO. 01-770, NO. 03-3852 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 13, 2007)

Opinion

CIVIL ACTION NO. 01-770, NO. 03-3852.

August 13, 2007


MEMORANDUM


Plaintiff has filed a motion for counsel fees pursuant to this court's order of June 19, 2007, which permitted plaintiff, as prevailing parties, to petition for legal fees under IDEA.

Defendant has filed objections, a substantial part of which concerns claims for fees billed prior to the filing of the IDEA on June 27, 2003. Plaintiff in their reply brief, rather cursorily, states . . . "the items listed for the most part refer to all claims litigated and would be impossible to separate them. Regardless, . . . all of the work conducted by plaintiff's counsel and all claims filed on behalf of plaintiffs were related to the ultimate result obtained. . . ." (Plaintiff's Reply Brief at 5 and 6). This is not sufficient to deny defendant's requested deduction.

With regard to defendant's second substantive request for deduction relative to depositions of any other one than Dr. Lazar, Lori Nicholas and Cynthia Polka, it is not clear that defendant is entitled to this deduction substantially for the reasons in plaintiff's reply.

A third and fourth substantial reduction request by defendant is appropriate for reasons set forth by defendant relative to its motion to dismiss and later for summary judgment.

Finally, it seems equitable to also give some deduction for the settlement conference fees requested based upon defendant's reasoning and plaintiff's response, which is not exactly on point with the nature of defendant's request. The deductions will be granted as follows:4,000 TOTAL $27,678

(a) Prior Complaint $19,251 (b) Motion to Dismiss 2,461 (c) Summary Judgment 1,966 (d) Settlement Conference An order follows.

ORDER

AND NOW, this 13th day of August, 2007, it is hereby ORDERED that plaintiff's petition for counsel fees (Docket No. 78) is GRANTED as follows. Counsel is awarded:3,487.76 TOTAL $147,113.76 Fees $143,626.00 Costs


Summaries of

Heather v. Northampton Area School District

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
Aug 13, 2007
CIVIL ACTION NO. 01-770, NO. 03-3852 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 13, 2007)
Case details for

Heather v. Northampton Area School District

Case Details

Full title:HEATHER D., a minor individual, by and through her parents and natural…

Court:United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania

Date published: Aug 13, 2007

Citations

CIVIL ACTION NO. 01-770, NO. 03-3852 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 13, 2007)