Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

10-3957, 10-3965 & 11-1016 NRA v. City of Chicago

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//June 2, 2011//

10-3957, 10-3965 & 11-1016 NRA v. City of Chicago

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//June 2, 2011//

Listen to this article

Civil Rights
Attorney fees; prevailing party

Litigants who prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court are prevailing parties entitled to attorney fees, even if the defendants repealed the unconstitutional statutes before the district court could order them to on remand.
“The municipalities insist that the Supreme Court’s decision addressed only ‘a preliminary legal issue that did not resolve plaintiffs’ claims against Chicago or Oak Park.’ That’s not realistic. Whether the second amendment applies to the states and subsidiary units of government was the issue in this litigation. The Court’s decision was not just a procedural skirmish. Contrast Hanrahan v. Hampton, 446 U.S. 754 (1980) (an appellate holding that plaintiffs have presented a triable issue does not make them prevailing parties, because they may still lose at trial); Sole v. Wyner, 551 U.S. 74 (2007) (a preliminary injunction in plaintiffs’ favor does not make them prevailing parties, when the case finally is resolved in defendants’ favor on the merits). After the Supreme Court held that the second amendment applies to the municipalities’ ordinances, defendants’ position was untenable; neither Chicago nor Oak Park contends that the ordinance in force in 2008 could have been sustained under Heller’s substantive standards. This litigation was over except for the entry of an injunction by the district court. Chicago and Oak Park capitulated, which made the exercise unnecessary. By the time defendants bowed to the inevitable, plaintiffs had in hand a judgment of the Supreme Court that gave them everything they needed. If a favorable decision of the Supreme Court does not count as ‘the necessary judicial Imprimatur’ on the plaintiffs’ position (Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 605), what would?”

Reversed and Remanded.

10-3957, 10-3965 & 11-1016 NRA v. City of Chicago

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Shadur, J., Easterbrook, J.

Full Text

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests