[Download] "Wooldridge V. Marlene Industries Corp." by United States Court Of Appeals For The Sixth Circuit ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free

eBook details

Title: Wooldridge V. Marlene Industries Corp.
Author : United States Court Of Appeals For The Sixth Circuit
Release Date : January 23, 1990
Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
Pages : * pages
Size : 69 KB

Description

Defendants-appellants Marlene Industries Corporation and Russell Sportswear Corporation, Marlene's subsidiary,*fn1 appeal the District Court's award of $293,399.24 in Title VII attorneys' fees to the class representative in this class action sex discrimination suit. The suit was brought to challenge the defendants' maternity leave policy, which forced pregnant employees to take a leave of absence for a proscribed period before and after childbirth. The District Court found that thedefendants did enforce a policy that violated Title VII, but only at their plants in Tennessee and Kentucky, and only between October 1973 and October 1975. The District Court eventually approved a magistrate's award of $30,011.42 in backpay damages to 38 members of the class. No damages were awarded to the 93 other women -- including Wooldridge -- who made backpay claims, a decision that was subsequently reversed by a panel of this Court. Since the policy had been discontinued before the action was filed, the District Court did not order injunctive relief. In the instant appeal, the defendants argue that the attorneys' fees awarded by the District Court are excessive since: (1) much of the compensated time was used to litigate the damage claims of persons who were not "prevailing parties"; (2) the District Court did not adequately determine the reasonableness of the hours claimed by the class attorneys; and (3) the hours billed should have been reduced because of the limited number of persons who received backpay awards and because the attorneys' fees far exceeded the damages awarded. For the reasons set forth below, we REVERSE and REMAND for further proceedings.