Opinion
CIVAL ACTION NO. 96-1052-BH-M.
June 28, 2000.
ORDER
Although the Court has not yet completed its disposition of plaintiffs' initial motion an award of attorneys' fees and costs (Doc. 138), as supplemented (Docs. 183 through 190), the plaintiffs have now appropriately submitted a second supplemental motion for such fees and costs (Docs. 221 through 223). The County Commission defendants have orally requested an opportunity to respond to plaintiffs' supplemental motion. It is therefore ORDERED that any party wishing to respond to plaintiffs' supplemental motion for an award of attorneys' fees and costs must RESPOND in writing on or before July 10, 2000, at which time the Court will immediately take the matter under submission.
In addition, the Court has now received the bills from the experts appointed by this Court pursuant to the Order entered February 10, 2000 (Doc. 199), has reviewed those bills and determined that each item charged is and was reasonable, necessary and appropriate. It is therefore FURTHER ORDERED that the experts be and are hereby awarded fees and costs as follows:
The itemized bills from each of the Court's experts shall be maintained under SEAL. The Clerk of this Court is therefore directed to seal and secure the documents delivered in this regard, the same not to be hereafter opened or viewed without express written order of the court.
1. Katharine I. Butler is awarded a fee of $9,887.50 (representing 56.5 hours at $175.00 per hour) and expenses in the amount of $1,511.00 for a total of $11,398.50.
2. Harold W. Stanley is awarded a fee of $8.326.25 (representing 66.6 hours at $125.00 per hour) and expenses in the amount of $73.00 for a total of $8,399.25.
The total sum due the Court's experts is therefore $19,797.75 and, as indicated in the Court's Order of February 10, 2000 (Doc. 199), the parties, namely the plaintiffs (Dean Butch Wilson and Johnny Middlebrooks), the Dallas County Commission defendants and the United States, are hereby ORDERED to each pay on or before July 26, 2000, their proportionate share in the amount of $6,599.25 to the Clerk of this Court who shall be given the information required to distribute the funds directly to the Court's experts.