Judge rejects majority of fees sought by plaintiffs

In a ruling issued Jan. 27, U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Duggan rejected more than two-thirds of the legal fees requested by the attorneys who brought the affirmation action lawsuits against the University.

Duggan awarded the Center for Individual Rights and other attorneys representing the plaintiffs, Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher, approximately $672,000 in legal fees and costs. However, the judge ruled that most of the more than $2 million in fees requested by the attorneys were "unreasonable," in part because they did not succeed in winning their primary legal argument that race can never be considered in the admissions process.

On June 23, 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that race can be a factor in university admissions, but that Michigan's undergraduate admissions process was not properly designed to meet the requirements of the Constitution. The court upheld U-M's Law School admissions process.

"We are gratified that Judge Duggan agreed with the University that the fees requested were excessive," said Marvin Krislov, vice president and general counsel. "The judge's opinion clearly reflects a thoughtful analysis of the issues."

The complete text of the court's ruling is posted at http://www.mied.uscourts.gov/index.html.

CIR also has filed a claim for damages on behalf of the thousands of students who were not admitted to U-M between 1995 and 1997. CIR wants the return of application fees and other damages. Duggan has not yet ruled on this part of the damages claim.

Krislov said such damages are not warranted either by the facts of the case or by the law. "Unsuccessful applicants would have to show they would have been admitted to the University under an alternate race-conscious system, and that is nearly impossible to show," he said. "Courts have been extremely reluctant to go back in time and engage in this kind of speculation in previous cases."

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