Ayala v. Center Line, Inc.

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• concluding in a civil rights case the judge, not the jury, is to determine'the award of attorney fees to be paid to the prevailing-plaintiff under the applicable statute
• following issuance of right-to-sue letter, parties not contending that jury trial was error; court holding that assessment of attorney’s fees under Iowa Code § 601A.15(8)(a)(8) is equitable issue for the court
• although plaintiffs jury request was honored by trial court, Supreme Court holding that issue of reasonable attorney’s fees is decided by the court
• “[S]uch fees are separate and distinct from the underlying civil rights violation and are incurred only to remedy the harm already done.”
• “The reason for awarding attorney fees in such a case is to ensure that private citizens can afford to pursue the legal actions necessary to advance the public interest vindicated by the policies of civil rights acts.”
• “The reason for awarding attorneys fees in [a civil rights case] is to ensure that private citizens can afford to pursue the legal actions necessary to advance the public interest vindicated by the policies of civil rights acts.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).