Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act (Section 1988)
A federal fee-shifting statute authorizing a court, in its discretion, to award reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing party in specified civil rights actions, including most Section 1983 claims.
Because civil rights plaintiffs often lack the resources to litigate against government defendants, and because these cases frequently vindicate public rights beyond the individual plaintiff's own interest, Congress created a fee-shifting mechanism to incentivize attorneys to take on meritorious civil rights claims by allowing recovery of fees from the losing party.
The statute applies to actions brought under a specified list of civil rights laws, most prominently Section 1983 claims. Courts have interpreted the discretion asymmetrically: a prevailing plaintiff should ordinarily recover fees absent special circumstances that would make an award unjust, while a prevailing defendant can recover fees only in the narrower circumstance that the plaintiff's claim was frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation. The fee award itself is typically calculated using a lodestar approach, multiplying a reasonable hourly rate by reasonable hours expended, subject to adjustment.
A Juricratic simulation of a civil rights matter can carry fee exposure as a distinct output dimension layered on top of the merits distribution — since fee-shifting compounds the asymmetry between plaintiff and defendant outcomes, a user can see how a modest damages projection combines with a much larger projected fee exposure to change the overall settlement-value picture.
How it actually shows up
Prevailing civil rights plaintiffs' counsel typically files a fee petition supported by contemporaneous time records and market-rate evidence, while defense counsel evaluates fee exposure as a distinct settlement-driving variable from the underlying damages exposure, since fee awards in protracted civil rights litigation can rival or exceed the compensatory recovery itself.
- Is a fee award automatic for a prevailing civil rights plaintiff?
- It is discretionary in form but courts have generally held that a prevailing plaintiff should ordinarily recover fees absent special circumstances that would make an award unjust, making awards common in practice.
- Can a prevailing defendant recover fees under this statute as easily as a prevailing plaintiff?
- No. Courts apply a much narrower standard for defendant fee awards, generally requiring a showing that the plaintiff's claim was frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation.
- How are fee amounts typically calculated under Section 1988?
- Courts typically start with the lodestar method, multiplying a reasonable hourly rate by the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation, and may adjust the result based on additional factors.
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