Labor & Employment – Civil Rights – Sex Discrimination – Attorney’s Fees & Declaratory Judgment – Failure to Promote – No Damages

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Pitrolo v. County of Buncombe (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-04-1047, 19 pp.) (Martin Reidinger, J.) 1:06-cv00199; W.D.N.C.

Holding: Since plaintiff’s main objective was a damages award, which she did not receive, and since no greater public purpose has been served by this lawsuit, plaintiff is not entitled to an award of attorney’s fees.

Plaintiff’s motion for declaratory relief, attorney’s fees and costs is denied.

In this mixed motive case, a jury determined that, while defendants improperly considered plaintiff’s gender when they decided not to promote her, defendants would not have promoted plaintiff anyway.

Although plaintiff’s complaint did not seek declaratory relief, she has moved for “a declaration that defendants’ failure to promote her to the position of Interim Director of the Agency was motivated by her gender in violation of Title VII. [Plaintiff] seeks relief requiring defendants to place a copy of the aforementioned declaratory judgment in her Buncombe County personnel file.”

Although a declaratory judgment may be entered in the absence of a damages award, such relief is only available when the plaintiff has succeeded in serving an important public purpose. Plaintiff’s litigation has not done so. Where plaintiff has not been in defendants’ employ since 2005, a declaratory judgment would do little more than simply affirm the jury’s verdict.

Plaintiff has not put forward an argument as to whether or not an award of attorney’s fees is warranted in this case. For this reason alone, the court finds that plaintiff has failed to show that an award of attorney’s fees is warranted.

Moreover, plaintiff’s primary goal was an award of damages. The jury did not even award her nominal damages. Plaintiff did not seek injunctive or declaratory relief in her complaint, and she has obtained neither. To the extent she obtained a victory, it was pyrrhic.

This case was not legally significant to the law of gender discrimination. It was a typical civil rights action in which plaintiff sought to vindicate her personal rights.

The ordinary case where no damages are awarded warrants no attorney’s fee award.

Plaintiff’s motion for declaratory relief, attorney’s fees and costs is denied.