Lawyers in D.C. Gun Case Argue for $3.13 Million in Fees

Lawyers for the District of Columbia residents who successfully challenged the city's ban on handguns were in court today defending their request for nearly $3.13 million in legal fees and costs.

Alan Gura, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, urged a Washington federal trial judge to award the team the prevailing market value for attorneys who handle complex federal litigation. Gura called the fee request reasonable, citing his efficiency and his overall success in the case.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court in D.C. v. Heller struck down the city’s handgun ban in a ruling that recognized an individual’s right to own a firearm. Gura of Alexandria, Va.’s Gura & Possessky has represented lead plaintiff Dick Heller since the suit was filed in 2003 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Gura argued in the high court for Heller.

Lawyers for the District said in court papers that a reasonable fee for Gura and the team of plaintiffs’ attorneys, including Clark Neily III and Laura Possessky, is about $722,000.

In court today, Gura complained about what he called “unanticipated” delay that lawyers for the District caused. Gura cited the District’s repeated requests for time extensions in responding to certain pleadings and in deciding the next steps in the litigation. “I would not have guessed it would have taken this long to get paid,” Gura said.

Gura’s fee request includes compensation for six attorneys and about 3,300 hours. Click here for the fee petition. He said there is “nothing in the request that is not fairly plain and straight forward.”

In court today, Judge Emmet Sullivan questioned whether he should take into account the District’s finances in deciding how much Gura and the plaintiffs’ lawyers should be paid from taxpayer money.

Gura argued against any consideration, telling Sullivan he should not be a position that requires him to assess the city’s budget priorities. Sullivan should base his fee ruling on an objective analysis of market rates and performance, Gura said.

Samuel Kaplan of the District’s Office of the Attorney General argued the plaintiffs’ team had failed to prove why they should receive compensation on par with major law firms in the District. Kaplan called the gun litigation complicated but not complex, a term he reserved for class actions.

Kaplan said Gura’s team did not build the case from scratch, relying instead on what he called decades of scholarly literature on the Second Amendment.

The District’s lawyers urged Sullivan to use the so-called “Laffey Matrix” in determining the hourly rate for Gura and the plaintiffs’ attorneys. Sullivan called that scheme, prepared by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, “bargain basement” when it comes to attorney fees. That matrix, the judge said, “only goes so far.”

Gura asked Sullivan to use a matrix developed by economist Michael Kavanaugh to establish the rates. Gura called the “Kavanaugh Matrix” a more accurate reflection of hourly rates in the District than the scheme the government prepared.

Sullivan did not immediately rule on Gura’s fee petition.

Comments

[Jaybuck]

That is the way it always is with a city that loses a litigation. They wanted the fight but they lost now they are reneging when it comes time to pay the piper. If the shoe were on the other foot what would be D.C.'s position then?
Pay the man & lick your wounds. Think twice about interfering with the citizens 2nd. Amendment rights. You will have more expenses
than this if you don't loosen up.

[Mike Ebel]

Instead of realizing that they were infringing on a persons rights and changing the law to comply closer to the intent of the 2nd amendment they chose to fight to the last breath and must pay for it maybe it will make them reconsider their restrictive new system they put in place after the Heller decision to avoid having to pay even more in legal fee's after the next round of litigation.

[Stu Strickler]

Just because Washington, DC violated their peoples rights, does not give them the right to chose what the attorneys fees are. If they would not have been in violation of the Constitution, they wouldn't have to pay!

[Joe Waldron]

You lost, D.C.

Pay the man.