Attorney Fees.

• Position: Prisoner litigation - Brief Article

U.S. District Court

PARTIAL SUCCESS

Booth v. Barton County, KS, 157 F.Supp.2d 1178 (D.Kan. 2001). An inmate and a former inmate brought an action seeking injunctive relief under [ss] 1983, alleging unconstitutional conditions of confinement at a county jail. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The court found that the former inmate's claims, which sought only injunctive relief, were moot since the inmate had been released and was no longer a prisoner. The court refused to let the female inmate raise clams of gender-based unequal treatment at the summary judgment stage of trial because she failed to introduce the claims in her complaint, or at the pretrial conference. The female inmate had asked permission to allege that the jail had an insufficient number of female officers to provide equal exercise to female inmates, and that the jail's male-only trustee policy resulted in more exercise time for male inmates. The jail was allegedly designed to accommodate 19 inmates but bad a policy of housing up to 72 inmat es. (Barton County Jail, Kansas)

U.S. Appeals Court

PLRA-Prison Litigation Reform Act

LIMITATION

Foulk v. Charrier 262 F.3d 687 (8th Cir. 2001). A prisoner brought a [ss] 1983 action against a corrections officer alleging the use of excessive force in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights. The district court entered judgment on a jury verdict, awarded nominal damages of $1 plus interest and costs, and awarded attorney fees. The appeals court affirmed in part, vacated in part, and reversed in part. The appeals court held that the award of nominal damages for an Eighth Amendment violation was permissible, and that the finding of use of excessive force was supported by evidence. The appeals court found that the award of attorney fees...