Myers v. City of West Monroe ( 2001 )

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 00-31466
Summary Calendar
MARGARET ANN MYERS,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
CITY OF WEST MONROE ET AL.,
Defendants,
CITY OF WEST MONROE; SHERMAN CALHOUN, Individually and in his
official capacity as a police officer for West Monroe;
JIM WAINWRIGHT; ERNEST MCHENRY,
Defendants-Appellees.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Louisiana
USDC No. 96-CV-1181
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June 8, 2001
Before SMITH, BENAVIDES, and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Margaret Ann Myers appeals the district court’s award of
$19,069.70 in attorney’s fees to the defendants pursuant to 42
U.S.C. § 1988(b). Myers argues that the district court erred in
awarding fees to the defendants because they did not itemize by
the hour those fees related to the frivolous claims. She further
argues that if fees must be awarded, they should be apportioned
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined
that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent
except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.
R. 47.5.4.
No. 00-31466
-2-
pursuant to Nash v. Chandler, 848 F.2d 567 (1988) and therefore
based only on the extent to which the frivolous claims increased
the costs of litigation.
We review the district court's award of attorney's fees for
abuse of discretion and its supporting factual findings for clear
error. Foreman v. Dallas County, Texas, 193 F.3d 314, 318 (5th
Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1067 (2000). We review de
novo the conclusions of law underlying the award. Id.Myers’s argument that the defendants are not entitled to
attorney’s fees because they did not properly itemize their fees
is meritless. We further hold that our decision in Nash did not
mandate a result different from that reached by the district
court. The district court did not abuse its discretion in
fashioning the fee award, and, therefore, its judgment is
AFFIRMED.