Strojnik v. Portola Hotel, LLC

Background

Peter Strojnik filed this disability-rights action without a lawyer. He asserted a claim under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act and related state-law claims concerning alleged accessibility barriers. The court previously granted Portola Hotel, LLC’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing, dismissed the related state-law claims, and entered judgment in Portola’s favor.

Portola then moved for attorney’s fees under the ADA’s fee-shifting provision, 42 U.S.C. § 12205. It alternatively sought sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, 28 U.S.C. § 1927, or the court’s inherent powers. Strojnik opposed the motion.

Prevailing-party and frivolousness analysis

The court held that Portola was a prevailing party even though the earlier dismissal did not reach the merits of Strojnik’s claims. A favorable merits ruling was not required because Portola achieved its primary objective: dismissal of the claims and a judgment in its favor.

Under the ADA, a prevailing defendant may receive fees when the plaintiff’s action was frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation. The court explained that an action is frivolous when it lacks an arguable basis in law or fact, even if it was not filed in bad faith. The court must evaluate the action when it was filed and may not award fees merely because the plaintiff ultimately lost.

The court found that Strojnik had repeatedly filed ADA complaints containing broad, nonspecific allegations, many of which had been dismissed for lack of standing or failure to state a claim. Based on that history, the court concluded that Strojnik had no reasonable basis to allege an injury sufficient to establish standing and knew or should have known that he lacked standing. The court also found that the action raised no issues that prior case law had left unresolved. It therefore concluded that Strojnik’s claims were frivolous, unreasonable, and without foundation.

Amount of fees

Portola initially requested $13,122 for work performed through the filing of its motion, plus $1,000 for estimated work on its reply and preparation for oral argument, for a total request of $14,122. Strojnik did not object to the requested amount, the hourly rate, or the number of hours, but continued to argue that Portola was not entitled to any fee award.

The court applied the lodestar method, which calculates a presumptive fee by multiplying reasonable hours by a reasonable hourly rate. It found that attorney Philip Stillman’s hourly rate of $550 was reasonable. His billing records showed 23.84 hours of work, which the court found reasonable. Because no hearing was held, the court allowed one additional hour for work on the reply brief rather than the requested two hours. The resulting total was 24.84 hours, producing a lodestar amount of $13,662.

Ruling

Judge Virginia Demarchi granted Portola’s motion for attorney’s fees under the ADA and awarded Portola Hotel, LLC $13,662. Because the court awarded fees under the ADA, it did not consider whether sanctions were warranted under Rule 11, 28 U.S.C. § 1927, or the court’s inherent power.