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Win on attorneys' fees in Chicago case
7th Circuit ruling here. After losing in the Supreme Court, and before the case came back down to the trial court so it could enter judgment, the defendant cities changed their handgun bans, and the trial court dismissed the case as moot. It then ruled in the NRA case that there were no "prevailing parties" to recover fees, since the only final judgment was a dismissal.
The Seventh Circuit reverses this. As the court asks, "By the time defendants bowed to the inevitable, plaintiffs had in hand a judgment of the Supreme Court that gave them everything they needed. If a favorable decision of the Supreme Court does not count as “the necessary judicial imprimatur” on the plaintiffs’ position (Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 605), what would?"
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The lower court judge who tried to deny recovery of attorney fees should have been censured or fined for egregious, arbitrary and capricious interpretation of the law to suit his own personal agenda...merely reversing him is not enough of a slap in the face for that kind of conduct.
Should be a three-strikes-and-you're-out rule for Judges being over-ruled.
great news!
Hopefully municipalities and other local governments will realize that following the advice of the Legal Community Against Violence, Brady Campaign, Violence Policy Center and Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is an expensive proposition.
They can spend their limited funds on librarians or lawyers.