United States v. CITY OF SAN DIEGO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF SAN DIEGO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, Et Al., Defendants, Sierra Club, Emily Durbin and Bruce Henderson, Intervenors
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Brewster (author)
Analysis
The Sierra Club moved for clarification and correction of the Court's October 26, 1998 Order, which had erroneously included an interim fee award in the calculation of the final attorney's fees. The Court granted the motion, corrected the fee total to $848,116.93, and awarded an additional $500 in fees for the motion.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Motion for Clarification and Correction granted“The Court hereby corrects an error in its October 26, 1998 Order.” | agree with court The court correctly identified a clerical error in its prior order where the interim fee award was double-counted in the final fee total. Correcting such errors is within the court's inherent authority to manage its own records and ensure the judgment reflects the actual awards made. |
Additional fee award of $500 granted to Sierra Club“This Court awards Sierra Club an additional fee award of $500 to cover costs of bringing this Motion for Clarification.” | agree with court The court exercised its discretion to award fees for the motion, likely under the prevailing party fee-shifting provisions applicable to the underlying case or inherent authority, noting it had jurisdiction to make the correction. |
The order itself: sound — The order is a straightforward correction of a clerical error in a fee calculation. The reasoning is sufficient to explain the error (double-counting) and the correction (separating the interim award from the final award). It cites the prior order for context. There are no complex legal arguments to evaluate, and the result is defensible and necessary to correct the record.
Opinion — Brewster
*1361 ORDER GRANTING SIERRA CLUB’S MOTION FOR CLARIFICATION AND CORRECTING COURT’S OCTOBER 26, 1998 ORDER BREWSTER, Senior District Judge.
The Court hereby corrects an error in its October 26, 1998 Order. In that Order, the Court inadvertently included the Interim Fee Award of $56,310.93 in the Final Award of Attorney’s Fees of $791,306. The Award of $781,306, originally granted by this Court’s June 30,1998 Order, plus the additional $10,-000 in fees granted in the October 26, 1998 Order, are in addition to the Interim Fee Award of $56,310.93. This Court awards Sierra Club an additional fee award of $500 to cover costs of bringing this Motion for Clarification. It is the Court’s understanding that it has been given jurisdiction to make this correction. Furthermore, for clarification of the record, the Court notes that due to its own clerical error, the October 26, 1998 Order was published as of September 17, 1998.
See United States v. City of San Diego, 18 F.Supp.2d 1090, 1104 (S.D.Cal.1998).
In sum, the total award of attorney’s fees in this case is $848,116.93 which breaks down as follows: (1) the Interim Fee Award of $56,310.93; (2) the June 30, 1998 Award of $781,306; (3) the October 26, 1998 Award of $10,000 for costs related to the Motions for Reconsideration; and (4) an additional $500 awarded by this Order for the costs of bringing this Motion for Clarification. The Court apologizes to all Parties for the inadvertent error.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Cites, in this corpus
- United States v. City of San Diego Civ. 88-1101-B POR · 1998-09-17
Cited by
- Earth Island Institute, Inc. v. Southern California Edison Co. 90 CV 1535-B JFS · 2000-02-07