{"ID":63676,"name":"Lackey v. Stinnie","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/2024\/23-621","view_count":0,"docket_number":"23-621","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"Gerald F. Lackey","second_party":"Damian Stinnie","timeline":[{"event":"Granted","dates":[1713762000],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55451"},{"event":"Argued","dates":[1728363600],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55516"},{"event":"Decided","dates":[1740463200],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55618"}],"lower_court":{"ID":9,"name":"United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/taxonomy\/term\/9"},"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EUnder the so-called \u201cAmerican Rule,\u201d each litigant pays their own attorney\u2019s fees, regardless of whether they win or lose. However, certain statutes permit the payment of \u201ca reasonable attorney\u2019s fee\u201d to \u201cthe prevailing party\u201d in litigation; 42 U.S.C. \u00a7 1988 is one such statute, permitting the payment of attorney\u2019s fees to parties that prevail in civil rights litigation.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESeveral indigent Virginia residents challenged in federal court a state statute that required automatic suspension of the driver\u2019s licenses of those who failed to pay certain court fines and fees. Finding the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their case, the district court granted a preliminary injunction ordering the state to remove the plaintiffs\u2019 suspensions. The state did not appeal the injunction, so the plaintiffs were able to drive again. Before the case could go to trial, the Virginia legislature repealed the statute. The plaintiffs then petitioned for attorney\u2019s fees under Section 1988, but the district court rejected that request, citing a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit holding that a grant of a preliminary injunction does not render a plaintiff a \u201cprevailing party.\u201d The plaintiffs appealed. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed, but, on rehearing, the en banc 4th Circuit reversed.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003EIs a party who obtains a preliminary injunction a \u201cprevailing party\u201d for purposes of being entitled to attorney\u2019s fees under 42 U.S.C \u00a7 1988?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003EA party that receives a preliminary injunction but does not obtain a final judgment on the merits before a case becomes moot is not a \u0022prevailing party\u0022 eligible for attorney\u0027s fees under 42 U.S.C. \u00a71988(b). Chief Justice John Roberts authored the 7-2 majority opinion of the Court.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe term \u201cprevailing party\u201d in \u00a71988(b) refers to a party who obtains enduring judicial relief that conclusively resolves their claim on the merits. Preliminary injunctions do not qualify because they merely preserve the status quo temporarily while predicting likelihood of success\u2014they do not conclusively determine rights. Importantly, a \u201cprevailing party\u201d traditionally means one who \u0022successfully prosecutes the action\u0022 or \u0022successfully maintains\u0022 their claim \u0022at the end\u0022 of proceedings, not one who achieves temporary success at intermediate stages.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EExternal events that render a case moot do not transform a preliminary injunction into the kind of judicial success that warrants attorney\u0027s fees. For a party to \u201cprevail\u201d under \u00a71988(b), both the change in legal relationship between parties and the permanence of that change must result from judicial order, not from outside circumstances.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJustice Ketanji Brown Jackson authored a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n","advocates":[{"advocate":{"ID":63717,"name":"Erika L. Maley","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/people\/erika_l_maley","view_count":0,"last_name":"Maley","roles":null,"thumbnail":null,"length_of_service":0,"identifier":"erika_l_maley"},"advocate_description":"for the Petitioner","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_advocate\/case_advocate\/23607"},{"advocate":{"ID":17293,"name":"Anthony A. 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