Davis v. Perry (991 F. Supp. 2d 809, 2014)

ORDER

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge, ORLANDO L. GARCIA, District Judge, XAVIER RODRIGUEZ, District Judge.

On this date, the Court considered Plaintiffs’ Motions for Attorneys’ Fees, Expenses, and Costs (docket nos. 193 & 194), and the responses and replies thereto.

I. Background

On September 22, 2011, Plaintiffs Wendy Davis, Marc Veasey, Roy Brooks, Vicky Bargas, Pat Pangburn, Frances DeLeon, Dorothy DeBose, and Sarah Joyner filed case no. SA: ll-CV-788, challenging the redistricting plan for the Texas Senate (Plan S148) adopted by the Texas Legislature in 2011. On October 17, 2011, LU-LAC and Domingo Garcia filed case number SA:ll-CV-855. The claims in 11-CV-855 are substantially similar to the claims in ll-CV-788. Case ll-CV-855 was consolidated with ll-CV-788 as a member case on October 19, 2011.

Plaintiffs sought to protect their “right to vote for their preferred candidate to the Texas State Senate from Senate Districts 8, 10,12, and 25.” SA: ll-CV-788, docket no. 1 ¶ 1; SA: ll-CV-855, docket no. 1 ¶ 1. Plaintiffs brought claims under the Voting Rights Act (“VRA”) and § 1983. They asserted that Plan S148 had not and likely would not receive preclearance under § 5 of the VRA and that, even if it were precleared, it could not be administered because it diluted the voting strength of minority voters in the Dallas and Tarrant Counties area of North Texas in violation of § 2 of the VRA. Id. ¶2. Plaintiffs further alleged that the intentional fracturing and dismantling of the coalition of minority voters in Senate District 10 constituted unlawful vote dilution and discrimination in violation of § 2 and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Plaintiffs asserted the following specific claims: (1) violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; (2) abridgement of the privileges and immunities of citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment; (3) Plan S148 could not be administered because it had not been precleared under § 5 of the VRA; and (4) violation of § 2 of the VRA with regard to Senate District 10.

Plaintiffs prayed that the Court enjoin the use of Plan S148 because it had not been precleared, issue a declaratory judgment that the existing benchmark plan violated Plaintiffs’ rights under the Constitution and federal law and was malapportioned, and issue a declaratory judgment finding that Plan S148 illegally dilutes the voting rights of minority voters (African Americans and Latinos) in the Dallas and Tarrant Counties region of North Texas in violation of § 2 of the VRA and was enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose in violation of § 2 of the VRA and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Plaintiffs also prayed that the Court permanently enjoin the use of the existing state senate districting plan or any other plan that violates the Constitution and federal law and order into effect a new plan that complies with federal law. Plaintiffs further sought fees and costs.

On September 29, 2011, this Court enjoined implementation of Plan S148 because it had not been precleared under § 5 of the VRA, as was required by then-existing law. Docket no. 8. The order stated that it would “be effective as a permanent injunction, subject to being lifted by order of the Court as appropriate.” Id.

The fact that S148 had not been precleared, coupled with the fact that the existing plan could not be used because it was malapportioned and election deadlines were looming, required the Court to create an interim plan for use in the 2012 elections. See Perry v. Perez, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 934, 940, 181 L.Ed.2d 900 (2012) (noting that the Court was required to fashion an interim plan because the population changes reflected by the census rendered the benchmark plan unusable). The Court originally fashioned and adopted Plan S164 as the interim plan. However, Defendants contended that Plan S148 should be used for the 2012 election, and appealed this Court’s implementation of Plan S164.

In Perry v. Perez, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 934, 181 L.Ed.2d 900 (2012), the Supreme Court vacated this Court’s order implementing Plan S164 and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion. The Supreme Court held that this Court must give deference to the State’s newly enacted plan in fashioning an interim plan, but should take care not to incorporate into the interim plan any legal defects in the State’s plan. Thus, the Supreme Court held, this Court should be guided by the State’s plan except to the extent the § 2 or constitutional claims were shown to have a likelihood of success on the merits or the Court found that aspects of the plan stood a reasonable probability of failing to gain § 5 preclearance in the District Court for the District of Columbia (“the D.C. Court”). With regard to the § 5 claims, because only the D.C. Court had jurisdiction over the claims, this Court could not apply the traditional preliminary injunction standard to those claims. The Supreme Court held that this Court could not prejudge the merits of the claims, neither presuming that the State’s effort to preclear its plan would succeed nor that it would fail. Id. at 942. Rather, this Court had to take “guidance from [Texas’s] policy judgments unless they reflected] aspects of the state plan that [stood] a reasonable probability of failing to gain § 5 preclearance.” Id. Under this standard, this Court was to determine whether the Plaintiffs’ § 5 challenges in the D.C. Court were “not insubstantial.” Id.

After the Supreme Court’s remand, this Court issued an Order on January 30 stating that, if the parties wanted to preserve the April 3 primary date, they would need to submit an agreed plan for the Court’s consideration. Docket no. 111. Plaintiffs and Plaintiff-Intervenor Craig Estes developed a proposed interim plan, Plan S 171, which was a partial plan addressing Plaintiffs’ claims regarding Senate District 10. Docket no. 147. Plan S172 incorporated Plan S 171 into the entire legislatively enacted Senate map. Id. Defendants stated that they had no objection to the Court’s entry of an order directing that Plan S172 be used on an interim basis for the 2012 elections, but Defendants preserved all defenses for the final judgment stage of the case and did not admit that any of Plaintiffs’ claims against Plan S148 had merit. Id. at 2.

On February 28, 2012, this Court adopted Plan S172 as the interim plan for the districts used to elect senators in 2012 to the Texas Senate. Docket no. 141. The Court rejected Defendants’ argument that the Legislature’s enacted plan must be used without change and expressly agreed with Plaintiffs’ argument “that this Court should impose an interim remedial map that differs from the plan enacted by the Texas Legislature.” Docket no. 147 at 1. To comply with the obligation to ensure that no legal defects were incorporated into the interim plan, the Court reviewed the plan under the standards required by Perry v. Perez before approving the plan. Docket nos. 141, 147. Specifically, the Court “limited our changes in the State’s enacted plan to those aspects of the plan ‘that [stood] a reasonable probability of failing to gain § 5 preclearance.’ ” Id. at 3. The Court found that Plan S172 reflected changes to Plan S148 that were appropriately designed to address Plaintiffs’ not insubstantial claim that District 10 “reflects a prohibited purpose under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act” and remedied the unconstitutional malapportionment of the state senate districts existing in the benchmark plan. Id. at 2. Plan S172 essentially restored Senate District 10 to its benchmark configuration. Given the Court’s conclusion under the § 5 standard, the Court did not need to consider whether Plaintiffs had demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on the § 2 and Fourteenth Amendment claims because those claims were also remedied through implementation of the § 5 interim remedy. The Court expressly ruled that nothing in the order represented a final judgment on the merits as to any claim or defense in the case, “nor does it affect any future claim for attorney’s fees.” Docket no. 147 at 3. As a result of the Court’s order, Plan S172 was used for the 2012 elections.

In August 2012, the D.C. Court issued a decision denying preclearance of Plan S148. Texas v. United States, 887 F.Supp.2d 133 (D.D.C.2012). The D.C. Court concluded “that Texas has not shown that the Senate Plan was enacted without discriminatory intent” and found “that the Senate Plan was enacted with discriminatory purpose as to SD 10.” Id. at 165-66. Texas appealed to the Supreme Court.

On June 24, 2013, the Texas Legislature passed a new redistricting plan for the Texas Senate, adopting the Court’s interim plan (Plan S172) without change. On June 25, while the State’s appeal of the D.C. Court’s decision was pending, the Supreme Court decided Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 2612, 186 L.Ed.2d 651 (2013), holding that § 4(b), the formula that determines which jurisdictions are automatically subject to § 5, is unconstitutional. The next day, on June 26, 2013, Governor Rick Perry signed the bill adopting the new Senate plan, and the plan was immediately effective. On June 27, 2013, the Supreme Court vacated the D.C. Court’s judgment denying preclearanee of the enacted plan and remanded the case for further consideration in light of Shelby County and the suggestion of mootness of appellees Wendy Davis, et al. See Texas v. United States, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 2885, 186 L.Ed.2d 930 (2013). On July 1, 2013, this Court denied as moot Defendants’ pending motions.

On September 4, this Court issued a final judgment reflecting the judicial relief that Plaintiffs had obtained, including that: (1) Plaintiffs’ request for declaratory relief was granted to the extent that Senate plan S100, the benchmark plan, violates the one-person, one-vote requirement of the Equal Protection Clause and will not be used for any further elections; (2) Plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief was granted such that Plan S148, the 2011 enacted plan, has been permanently enjoined and no elections have been or will be held thereunder; and (3) Plan S172, which was reviewed under the standard set forth in Perry v. Perez and restored Senate District 10 to near benchmark configuration and remedied the constitutional infirmities being asserted by Plaintiffs, was to be used for the 2012 elections. The Court also dismissed Plaintiffs’ remaining § 2 and Fourteenth Amendment claims as moot and awarded Plaintiffs their reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs as prevailing parties.

In accordance with the Court’s order, Plaintiffs filed their applications for attorneys’ fees and costs. Defendants have responded in opposition, asking the Court to reconsider its determination that Plaintiffs are prevailing parties and raising numerous other objections to Plaintiffs’ applications. The Court thus first considers whether Plaintiffs are prevailing parties and then turns to the other challenges raised by Defendants.

II. Analysis — Whether Plaintiffs are prevailing parties?

In the United States, parties are ordinarily required to bear their own attorney’s fees — the prevailing party is not entitled to collect from the loser. Buckhannon Bd. & Care Home, Inc. v. W. Va. Dep’t of Health & Human Res., 532 U.S. 598, 602, 121 S.Ct. 1835, 149 L.Ed.2d 855 (2001). Congress, however, has authorized the award of attorney’s fees to the “prevailing party” in numerous statutes, including the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1975, 89 Stat. 402, 42 U.S.C. § 1973l (e), and the Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Awards Act of 1976, 90 Stat. 2641, 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Section 1973Z (e) provides, “In any action or proceeding to enforce the voting guarantees of the fourteenth or fifteenth amendment, the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney’s fee, reasonable expert fees, and other reasonable litigation expenses as part of the costs.” Section 1988(b) provides that “the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs.” 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b).

A prevailing plaintiff in a VRA or civil rights case is presumptively entitled to an award of fees, unless special circumstances would render such an award unjust. Newman v. Piggie Park Enters., Inc., 390 U.S. 400, 402, 88 S.Ct. 964, 19 L.Ed.2d 1263 (1968). “Congress considered vigorous enforcement to vindicate civil rights a high priority and entrusted plaintiffs to effectuate this policy.” Dean v. Riser, 240 F.3d 505, 507 (5th Cir.2001). The policy in favor of awarding fees to civil rights plaintiffs is necessary to carry out Congress’s intention that individuals injured by discrimination act as “private attorneys general,” vindicating a policy that Congress considered of the highest priority. Indep. Fed’n of Flight Attendants v. Zipes, 491 U.S. 754, 759, 109 S.Ct. 2732, 105 L.Ed.2d 639 (1989).

“A prevailing party must be one who has succeeded on any significant claim affording it some of the relief sought, either pendente lite or at the conclusion of the litigation.” Tex. State Teachers Ass’n v. Garland Indep. Sch. Dist., 489 U.S. 782, 791, 109 S.Ct. 1486, 103 L.Ed.2d 866 (1989). The Supreme Court has interpreted the term “prevailing party” generously, so that plaintiffs may be considered prevailing parties for attorney’s fees purposes if they succeed on any significant issue in litigation that achieves some of the benefit the parties sought in bringing suit. Id. at 791-92, 109 S.Ct. 1486; Hensley v. Eckerharb, 461 U.S. 424, 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). A plaintiff prevails when he obtains an enforceable judgment against the defendant from whom fees are sought or comparable relief through á consent decree or settlement. Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U.S. 103, 111, 113 S.Ct. 566, 121 L.Ed.2d 494 (1992); see also Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 603-04, 121 S.Ct. 1835 (“enforceable judgments on the merits and court-ordered consent decrees create the ‘material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties’ necessary to permit an award of attorney’s fees”). A judicially sanctioned settlement, such as through the entry of a consent decree, may confer prevailing party status even without a judicial determination that the plaintiffs’ rights have been violated. Maher v. Gagne, 448 U.S. 122, 126 n. 8, 129, 100 S.Ct. 2570, 65 L.Ed.2d 653 (1980); see also Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 604, 121 S.Ct. 1835 (noting that a consent decree is a court-ordered change in the legal relationship between the parties even though it “does not always include an admission of liability by the defendant”). However, private settlements and a “defendant’s voluntary change in conduct, although perhaps accomplishing what the plaintiff sought to achieve by the lawsuit, lack[] the necessary judicial imprimatur on the change.” Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 605, 121 S.Ct. 1835. “The touchstone of the prevailing party inquiry ... is the material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties in a manner which Congress sought to promote in the fee statute.” Sole v. Wyner, 551 U.S. 74, 82, 127 S.Ct. 2188, 167 L.Ed.2d 1069 (2007).

Based on these principles, the Fifth Circuit holds that, for prevailing-party status: (1) a plaintiff must obtain judicially sanctioned relief, such as a judgment on the merits or a consent decree (judicial imprimatur); (2) the relief must materially alter the legal relationship between the parties; and (3) the relief must modify the defendant’s behavior in a way directly benefiting the plaintiff at the time the relief is granted. Petteway v. Henry, 738 F.3d 132, 136-37 (5th Cir.2013); Dearmore v. City of Garland, 519 F.3d 517, 521 (5th Cir.2008). Although an enforceable judgment on the merits and a court-ordered consent decree have sufficient judicial imprimatur, these examples are not exclusive. Dearmore, 519 F.3d at 521.

Defendants contend that Plaintiffs are not prevailing parties because they “never received a judgment on the merits of any of their claims.” Defendants cite Buckhannon and the Fifth Circuit’s opinion in LULAC v. Texas Democratic Party, 428 Fed.Appx. 460, 463-64 (5th Cir.2011) (per curiam). Docket no. 208 at 2; docket no. 209 at 2. In LULAC v. Texas Democratic Party, LULAC filed suit under § 2 and § 5 of the VRA. The district judge denied a preliminary injunction and granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss. LULAC appealed regarding the § 5 claim, and the Court of Appeals remanded for a three-judge court to consider the § 5 claim. The parties disputed whether the Texas Democratic Party was subject to § 5. After being denied summary judgment on remand, the defendant voluntarily obtained § 5 preclearance and the case was dismissed as moot. The Fifth Circuit held that LU-LAC was not a prevailing party because it was not awarded judicially sanctioned relief on any of its claims and the defendant’s voluntary submission of its method for preclearance lacked the requisite judicial imprimatur. Neither Buckhannon nor LULAC v. Texas Democratic Party provides specific guidance on the issue presented here — whether the interim relief obtained by Plaintiffs before Defendants mooted the case created a judicially sanctioned, material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties necessary to permit an award of attorney’s fees.

The Supreme Court has held that attorney’s fees may be awarded to a party in some circumstances without the party’s having obtained a favorable final judgment following a full trial on the merits. Hanrahan v. Hampton, 446 U.S. 754, 100 S.Ct. 1987, 64 L.Ed.2d 670 (1980). However, an award of fees pendente lite is appropriate only when the party has prevailed on the merits of at least some of his claims. Id. at 758, 100 S.Ct. 1987. The Supreme Court has not expressed a view on “whether, in the absence of a final decision on the merits of a claim for permanent injunctive relief, success in gaining a preliminary injunction may ... warrant an award of counsel fees.” Sole, 551 U.S. at 86, 127 S.Ct. 2188. In the absence of such Supreme Court guidance, “lower courts have had difficulties in ascertaining what other forms of judicial action” may create prevailing party status, and “circuit courts considering this issue [with regard to preliminary injunctions] have announced fact-specific standards that are anything but uniform.” Dearmore, 519 F.3d at 521.

In addition to the lack of clear guidance in the case law, resolution of the prevailing party question is further complicated by the unique fact pattern of this case, given the impact of § 5 and the D.C. Court litigation. Although Plaintiffs did not assert claims in this Court for violations of § 5, since those claims were within the exclusive jurisdiction of the D.C. Court, Plaintiffs did bring valid claims (under then-existing law) for injunctive relief against the enacted plan based on the lack of preclearance. Further, in fashioning interim relief, this Court was to ensure that the interim plan did not violate § 5, but in doing so could only determine whether the Plaintiffs’ § 5 claims in the D.C. Court were “not insubstantial.” In addition, because this Court determined that Plaintiffs’ § 5 claims were not insubstantial, and because the remedy for that finding also remedied Plaintiffs’ § 2 and Fourteenth Amendment claims, the Court did not reach the merits of those claims. See Maher, 448 U.S. at 133, 100 S.Ct. 2570 (noting the longstanding judicial policy of avoiding unnecessary decision of important constitutional issues). Thus, unlike most cases considering whether preliminary injunctions may render a plaintiff prevailing, this Court could not reach the merits of the claims pending before it. Nevertheless, the Court did give Plaintiffs substantial relief consistent with then-existing law. The Court enjoined implementation of Plan S148 and issued an interim plan that gave Plaintiffs all of their requested relief with regard to the 2012 election.

Plaintiffs then obtained a judgment on the merits of their § 5 claims in the D.C. Court. Thereafter, however, the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County invalidated the application of § 5 to Texas, and that decision applied to this case. See Harper v. Virginia Dep’t of Taxation, 509 U.S. 86, 97, 113 S.Ct. 2510, 125 L.Ed.2d 74 (1993) (holding that Supreme Court’s application of a rule of federal law to the parties before it requires that rule be given full, retroactive effect in all eases still open on direct review and as to all events, regardless of whether such events predate or postdate announcement of the rule). However, instead of returning to this Court to seek an order dissolving the injunction against Plan S148, Defendants adopted the Court’s interim plan and mooted Plaintiffs’ remaining claims. In doing so, Defendants have ensured that the interim relief will not be reversed, dissolved, or otherwise undone, but have also precluded Plaintiffs from obtaining a decision on the merits of their § 2 and Fourteenth Amendment claims from this Court.

As noted, Defendants argue that Plaintiffs cannot be prevailing parties because they did not obtain a judgment on the merits of their claims. Defendants argue that Plaintiffs’ “purported success on their Section 5 claims cannot support an award of attorney’s fees because the imposition of Section 5 preclearance requirements on the State violated the Constitution.” Docket no. 209 at 19. In the redistricting litigation concerning the Texas and U.S. House maps, Defendants have also argued that Plaintiffs cannot be prevailing parties on their § 2 and Fourteenth Amendment claims because those claims were not ripe. Defendants do not expressly raise these argument in their briefs in this case -with regard to whether Plaintiffs are prevailing parties, but the arguments do apply, and Plaintiffs have addressed them in their reply briefs.

Plaintiffs argue that Shelby County is irrelevant to Plaintiffs’ prevailing party status because this case did not adjudicate the merits of Plaintiffs’ § 5 claims, which were before the D.C. Court, and Plaintiffs are not seeking fees related to those claims. Instead, Plaintiffs argue, § 5 was only relevant to the extent that the Court concluded that a court-ordered interim plan was appropriate. Plaintiffs also cite to Frazier v. Board of Trustees of Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, 765 F.2d 1278 (5th Cir.1985), in which the Fifth Circuit held that a change in law following the trial court’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction does not convert an otherwise prevailing civil rights plaintiff into a non-prevailing party. In Frazier, the district court originally granted a preliminary injunction on the plaintiffs § 1983 claim, which reinstated her at work. But after the Supreme Court handed down decisions that altered the concept of state action as applied to the conduct of private parties, the district court vacated the preliminary injunction and granted the remaining defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Id. at 1282. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the § 1983 claims, but held that the district court abused its discretion by not awarding interim fees under § 1988 based on the preliminary injunction. The Fifth Circuit stated, “That a plaintiff eventually loses on the merits of a section 1983 claim does not automatically undermine the validity of an interim attorney’s fee award based on substantial relief that is granted in light of the then-current universe of legal principles.” Id. at 1293-94. The Court reasoned that the district court had not abused its discretion in enjoining the defendants under the law as it then existed, and the change in law did not convert the plaintiff into a non-prevailing party. The validity of Frazier after Sole v. Wyner, however, is uncertain.

After considering all the arguments, the Court concludes that, under these facts, Plaintiffs meet the requirements for prevailing party status. As noted, under Fifth Circuit precedent, a prevailing party: (1) must obtain judicially sanctioned relief, such as a judgment on the merits or a consent decree (judicial imprimatur); (2) the relief must materially alter the legal relationship between the parties; and (3) it must modify the defendant’s behavior in a way directly benefiting the plaintiff at the time the relief is granted. Dearmore, 519 F.3d at 521. It is undisputed that Plaintiffs obtained significant, affirmative interim relief. This relief was judicially sanctioned, materially changed the legal relationship between the parties, and gave Plaintiffs all the relief they sought with regard to the 2012 elections. In addition, that relief was not and cannot now be reversed, dissolved, or otherwise undone.

With regard to the first requirement — that Plaintiff obtain judicially sanctioned relief — Plaintiffs have done so. Plaintiffs sought injunctive and declaratory relief against the use of Plan S148 because it had not been precleared and because it violated the Constitution and federal law. Plaintiffs also asked the Court to order into effect a new senate plan that met the requirements of the Constitution and federal and state law. Although the State had argued that Plan S148 must be used for the 2012 elections, the Supreme Court made clear that Plan S148 was to be used only to the extent that it contained no legal defects, as determined by the “not insubstantial” standard for Plaintiffs’ § 5 claims and by the preliminary injunction standard for the other claims. After the Supreme Court’s ruling, Defendants consented to the use of Plan S172. Defendants did not object to implementation of the proposed interim plan, agreeing that it “responded] to all claims that are fairly at issue in this case or the Section 5 case” and was within the Court’s remedial authority. Docket no. 119 at 4. Defendants acknowledged that the proposed plan “addresse[d] Davis’s Fourteenth Amendment and discriminatory purpose claims.” Id. at 19. The interim relief was therefore essentially a judicially approved settlement or consent decree. As the Supreme Court made clear in Maher v. Gagne, 448 U.S. at 129, 100 S.Ct. 2570, the fact that a plaintiff prevailed through a settlement rather than through litigation does not weaken the claim to fees. “Nothing in the language of § 1988 conditions the District Court’s power to award fees on full litigation of the issues or on a judicial determination that the plaintiffs rights have been violated.” Id. Plaintiffs were awarded relief by the Court on their claims — an injunction preventing use of the enacted plan and an interim plan to govern the upcoming election that protected Plaintiffs’ rights and did not violate the VRA or the Constitution. Thus, Plaintiffs obtained judicially sanctioned relief in the form of a judicially approved settlement or consent decree, satisfying the first element of the prevailing party test. See Medders v. Autauga Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 858 F.Supp. 1118, 1124 (M.D.Ala.1994) (holding that plaintiffs who obtained court’s adoption of consent decree incorporating single-member-district plan as its own interim plan pending preclearance obtained significant relief and were prevailing parties).

Whether characterized as a consent decree or a preliminary injunction, the judicially sanctioned interim relief cannot now be “reversed, dissolved, or otherwise undone by the final decision in the same case” because Defendants have mooted the casé. Therefore, the Supreme Court’s decision in Sole v. Wyner does not preclude prevailing party status. Following Shelby County, Defendants could have returned to this Court to allow Plaintiffs an opportunity to pursue their § 2 and Fourteenth Amendment claims to a final resolution. Instead, Defendants chose to moot the case before Plaintiffs could do so, by adopting the interim plan. Cf. Dearmore, 519 F.3d at 524 n. 3 (noting that a lack of appeal and acquiescence to a court order has been noted “by this Court and others to be a factor favoring a finding of prevailing party status”). The Court therefore concludes that Plaintiffs obtained sufficient judicial relief for prevailing party status.

Turning to the second requirement for prevailing party status, the interim relief materially altered the legal relationship between the parties. Texas’s argument that the enacted plan had to be used was rejected; Texas was not permitted to use Plan S148 for the 2012 elections; Plaintiffs were granted relief on their claims and were able to vote in the districts that they sought; and Plaintiffs’ rights under the VRA and the Constitution were protected. The Court’s orders providing interim relief were and still are judicially enforceable orders.

Third, the interim relief directly benefited Plaintiffs because the Court’s order implementing the interim plans gave Plaintiffs the relief they sought with regard to the upcoming election. Further, the State ultimately adopted the Court’s plan, providing Plaintiffs with their desired result such that Plaintiffs were never subject to Plan S148.

The Court therefore declines to reverse its prior decision finding that Plaintiffs in this case are prevailing parties. Plaintiffs pursued their relief, and the Court granted them relief, to the extent possible under the circumstances. To the extent Defendants’ arguments regarding the effect of Shelby County are equally relevant to a determination of whether special circumstances would render an award of fees unjust, the Court concludes, for the reasons stated above, that the fact that some relief was obtained under § 5, which was, in retrospect, unconstitutionally applied to Texas, does not render an award of fees unjust. Given Plaintiffs’ assertion of other claims under § 2 and the Fourteenth Amendment, which could have supported the interim relief, the Court finds that an award of fees is not unjust.

In sum, Plaintiffs obtained judicially sanctioned interim relief that materially altered the legal relationship between the parties. As a result of the Court’s orders, Plaintiffs obtained their desired relief and were able to vote in the 2012 elections under a plan that did not violate the VRA or the Constitution. Because Plan S148 was repealed, the State has adopted the Court’s interim plan, and the claims are now moot, there is no possibility that the interim relief will be reversed, dissolved, or otherwise undone by a final decision in this case. Under these circumstances, the Court finds that Plaintiffs are prevailing parties entitled to an award of attorney’s fees and costs. Sole, 551 U.S. at 82, 127 S.Ct. 2188 (“The touchstone of the prevailing party inquiry ... is the material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties in a manner which Congress sought to promote in the fee statute.”).

III. Reasonableness/Amount of Fee Award

Having determined that Plaintiffs are prevailing parties in this litigation, the Court must determine what amount of fees is reasonable. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). “The most useful starting point for determining the amount of a reasonable fee is the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate.” Id. “This calculation provides an objective basis on which to make an initial estimate of the value of- a lawyer’s services.” Id. The Court should exclude from this initial fee calculation hours that were not reasonably expended, and counsel for the prevailing party should make a good faith effort to exclude from a fee request hours that are excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary. Id. at 434, 103 S.Ct. 1933. The lodestar calculation does not end the inquiry, however, and the Court should consider other factors that would warrant an upward or downward adjustment of the fee. Id. at 434 & n. 9, 103 S.Ct. 1933.

A. Davis Plaintiffs

The Davis Plaintiffs’ original motion sought a total sum of $616,813.45 ($591,-560.50 in fees and $25,252.95 in expenses). In its reply, Jenner & Block voluntarily reduced its requested attorneys’ fees by $101,945.00 and legal assistant fees by $11,133.50. Jenner & Block also removed its requested expenses and costs. Plaintiffs’ revised request includes: (1) attorney’s fees for Gerald Hebert (441 hours at $650 per hour = $286,650.00); (2) attorney’s fees for David Richards (10 hours at $550 per hour = $5500.00); (3) attorneys’ fees for three Jenner & Block attorneys (236.5 hours at various hourly rates between $435 and $985 = $138,671.25); (4) legal assistant/paralegal fees for AngleStrategies (220.3 hours at $175.00 per hour = $38,552.50); (5) paralegal fees for Karina Esparza (1.9 hours at $95 per hour = $180.50); and (6) paralegal fees for Cheryl Olson (31.75 hours at rates between $280 and $295 = $8,927.50). Therefore, the Davis Plaintiffs’ revised requested lodestar amount for all attorneys and paralegals is $478,481.75.

The first step in determining reasonable attorneys’ fees is an evaluation of the number of hours reasonably expended. La. Power & Light v. Kellstrom, 50 F.3d 319, 324 (5th Cir.1995). The Court must determine whether the hours claimed were “reasonably expended on the litigation.” Id. “[T]he fee applicant bears the burden of establishing entitlement to an award and documenting the appropriate hours expended and hourly rates. The applicant ... should maintain billing time records in a manner that will enable a reviewing court to identify distinct claims.” Id. (quoting Hensley, 461 U.S. at 437, 103 S.Ct. 1933).

Defendants argue that the Davis Plaintiffs’ request should be denied or reduced. Defendants argue: (1) Plaintiffs did not succeed on their § 5 claims because § 5 was unconstitutionally applied to Texas; (2) Plaintiffs pursued a failed legal theory during the first phase of interim map proceedings; (3) the fee request is unreasonable because it reflects inadequate billing judgment; (4) the fee request is unreasonable because the hourly rates are excessive; and (5) Plaintiffs cannot recover fees for consulting and clerical work. The Court thus determines whether Plaintiffs’ requested lodestar must be adjusted in light of Defendants’ arguments and in light of the Court’s independent review of the submitted time records.

1. Hours Reasonably Expended

a. § 5 claims

Defendants argue that Plaintiffs did not succeed on their § 5 claims because any claim or remedy based on § 5 is illegitimate, and Texas “cannot be compelled to pay attorneys’ fees incurred in pursuit of an unconstitutional claim that should not have existed in the first place.” Docket no. 208 at 9-10. Defendants assert that the Court should “reduce any fee award to reflect the fact that the Davis Plaintiffs did not succeed on all of their claims.” Id.

Plaintiffs may receive fees even if they are not victorious on every claim. Fox v. Vice, — U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 2205, 2214, 180 L.Ed.2d 45 (2011). A civil rights plaintiff who obtains meaningful relief has corrected a violation of federal law and, in so doing, has vindicated Congress’s statutory purposes; the “result is what matters.” Id. The Supreme Court explained in Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 435, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983), that a court should compensate the plaintiff for the time his attorney reasonably spent in achieving the favorable outcome, even if “the plaintiff failed to prevail on every contention.” However, “the fee award should not reimburse the plaintiff for work performed on claims that bore no relation to the grant of relief: Such work ‘cannot be deemed to have been expended in pursuit of the ultimate result achieved.’ But the presence of these unsuccessful claims does not immunize a defendant against paying for the attorney’s fees that the plaintiff reasonably incurred in remedying a breach of his civil rights.” Fox, 131 S.Ct. at 2214 (citations omitted).

Thus, when there are both successful and unsuccessful claims, “the judge should consider whether or not the plaintiffs unsuccessful claims were related to the claims on which he succeeded, and whether the plaintiff achieved a level of success that makes it appropriate to award attorney’s fees for hours reasonably expended on unsuccessful claims.” City of Riverside v. Rivera, 477 U.S. 561, 568-69, 106 S.Ct. 2686, 91 L.Ed.2d 466 (1986). A plaintiff might bring distinctly different claims that are based on different facts and legal theories, and in such an instance “work on an unsuccessful claim cannot be deemed to have been ‘expended in pursuit of the ultimate result achieved.’ ” United States ex rel. Longhi v. United States, 575 F.3d 458, 476 (5th Cir.2009) (quoting Hensley, 461 U.S. at 435, 103 S.Ct. 1933). But “[i]n [some] cases the plaintiffs claims for relief will involve a common core of facts or will be based on related legal theories. Much of counsel’s time will be devoted generally to the litigation as a whole, making it difficult to divide the hours expended on a claim-by-claim basis. Such a lawsuit cannot be viewed as a series of discrete claims. Instead the district court should focus on the significance of the overall relief obtained by the plaintiff in relation to the hours reasonably expended on the litigation.” Hensley, 461 U.S. at 435, 103 S.Ct. 1933. Accordingly, “Hensley emphasized that ‘[w]here a plaintiff has obtained excellent results, his attorney should recover a fully compensatory fee,’ ” and that “the fee award should not be reduced simply because the plaintiff failed to prevail on every contention raised in the lawsuit.” Rivera, 477 U.S. at 569, 106 S.Ct. 2686 (quoting Hensley, 461 U.S. at 435, 103 S.Ct. 1933). In other words, in determining an appropriate fee award in a situation where only some claims were successful, a district court can consider the overall result obtained if the claims involve a common core of facts or related legal theories. Arnold v. U.S. Dep’t of Interior, 252 F.3d 435, -, 2001 WL 360769 at *1 (5th Cir.2001) (per curiam) (unpublished); see also Coleman v. Houston Indep. Sch. Dist., 202 F.3d 264, —, 1999 WL 1131554 at *5 (5th Cir.1999) (unpublished) (“[T]here is ample authority for the proposition that a partially prevailing party may recover all reasonably incurred attorney fees, even though the party did not prevail on all claims, as to all defendants, or as to all issues in a matter.”).

This case does not involve discrete, unrelated claims. Plaintiffs’ claims for relief under § 2 and § 5 of the VRA and under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments involved a common core of facts and were based on related legal theories. Plaintiffs obtained excellent results such that they are entitled to recover a fully compensatory fee encompassing all hours reasonably expended in the litigation. Therefore, the Court will not reduce the award for time spent on pursuing relief under § 5.

b. pursuit of “failed legal theory” between October 2011 and January 2012

Defendants contend that Plaintiffs should not recover fees for work between October 3, 2011 and January 20, 2012, because they “pursued a failed legal theory during the first phase of interim map proceedings.” Docket no. 208 at 10. Specifically, Defendants assert that during this phase Plaintiffs argued that this Court could not give any weight to the legislatively enacted Senate plan because it had not been precleared, while Texas refuted these argument by relying on precedent and arguments that were adopted by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held that the State’s enacted plan must be the starting point for an interim plan, even if it has not been precleared. Therefore, Defendants argue, hours spent on Plaintiffs’ contrary unsuccessful “claim” should be excluded from the fee. Defendants cite Hensley, 461 U.S. at 440, 103 S.Ct. 1933, for the proposition that “[w]here the plaintiff has failed to prevail on a claim that is distinct in all respects from his successful claims, the hours spent on the unsuccessful claim should be excluded in considering the amount of a reasonable fee.” Because Plaintiffs’ legal argument was rejected, Defendants contend, the Davis Plaintiffs are not entitled to recover any attorneys’ fees for work related to interim redistricting plans before January 20, 2012 and for any work on the Supreme Court appeal.

Plaintiffs contend that because they prevailed in the litigation, an award of fees and costs for all stages of the litigation is appropriate. Although Defendants succeeded in having the interim maps vacated, Plaintiffs correctly point out that Defendants’ argument that this Court must use the enacted maps while preclearance was pending was also rejected by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court did not grant Defendants’ request to remand to this Court with instructions to impose Texas’s legislatively enacted plan as the interim plan while preclearance was pending. Instead, the Court instructed that while the enacted plan should be the starting point, the Court should not incorporate any aspects of the plan that violated the VRA or the Constitution. In this regard, the Supreme Court did not adopt the standard urged by either Plaintiffs or Defendants. Further, although this Court’s interim order was vacated and Defendants were therefore automatically awarded costs, neither party prevailed on the merits of any claim (te., §2, §5, or Fourteenth Amendment) at that time.

Plaintiffs also contend that “the Fifth Circuit has rejected any contention that courts should look at each stage of the litigation piecemeal in determining prevailing party status,” and the Court should instead “consider the claims and litigation as a whole.” Docket no. 211 at 7. Plaintiffs argue that they did not pursue separate and distinct claims before the Supreme Court in Perry; rather, the same claims have been at issue throughout the entire litigation. Plaintiffs assert that because (1) they prevented Defendants from obtaining their preferred relief at the Supreme Court, (2) the appeal was an integral step in the litigation, and (3) Plaintiffs ultimately prevailed, the Court should not exclude fees for any aspect of the litigation.

As noted above, in Hensley, the Supreme Court instructed that a fee award “should not be reduced simply because the plaintiff failed to prevail on every contention raised in the lawsuit. Litigants in good faith may raise alternative legal grounds for a desired outcome, and the court’s rejection of or failure to reach certain grounds is not a sufficient reason for reducing the fee. The result is what matters.” Hensley, 461 U.S. at 435, 103 S.Ct. 1933. Thus, Hensley supports Plaintiffs’ position rather than Defendants’.

Further, Plaintiffs appropriately cite to Alizadeh v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 910 F.2d 234 (5th Cir.1990), in which the plaintiff appealed the award of attorney’s fees to a prevailing defendant who had lost on an intermediate appeal. After the district court granted summary judgment, the plaintiff appealed and the Fifth Circuit reversed and remanded. The defendant then prevailed after a jury trial, and the district court awarded $6,500 in attorney’s fees that the defendant spent on the appeal. The plaintiff argued that the trial was a separate proceeding from the earlier appeal in which the summary judgment in the defendant’s favor was partially reversed and remanded for trial. The Fifth Circuit rejected this argument, noting that the case involved two claims, and the defendant was ultimately the prevailing party on these claims in all respects. The Court held that it was not an abuse of discretion for the district court to award fees for the appeal because “[e]ven though [the defendant] did not prevail on the initial appeal itself, it did ultimately prevail on the merits in the litigation, an integral stage of which was the initial appeal,” and “the district court’s determination that the prevailing party should receive an award that includes attorneys’ fees for the entire course of the litigation of the section 1981 claim was not unreasonable.” Id. at 237-38; see also Romaguera v. Gegenheimer, 162 F.3d 893, 896 (5th Cir.1998) (approving without analysis district court’s award of fees to prevailing plaintiff that included fees for unsuccessful defense of the district court’s judgment during the interim appeal).

Similarly, the Ninth Circuit reasoned in Cobrales v. County of Los Angeles, 935 F.2d 1050 (9th Cir.1991), that Hensley supports an award of fees to a prevailing plaintiff that includes fees for unsuccessfully defending an appeal to the Supreme Court:

We read Hensley as establishing the general rule that plaintiffs are to be compensated for attorney’s fees incurred for services that contribute to the ultimate victory in the lawsuit. Thus, even if a specific claim fails, the time spent on that claim may be compensable, in full or in part, if it contributes to the success of other claims. We analogize from Hensley’s discussion of different claims to the different stages of litigation at issue here. Just as time spent on losing claims can contribute to the success of other claims, time spent on a losing stage of litigation contributes to success because it constitutes a step toward victory.

... The rationale is clear: If a plaintiff ultimately wins on a particular claim, she is entitled to all attorney’s fees reasonably expended in pursuing that claim-even though she may have suffered some adverse rulings. Here, although the Supreme Court vacated our judgment, the Court’s order was simply a temporary setback on the way to a complete victory for plaintiff.

Rare, indeed, is the litigant who doesn’t lose some skirmishes on the way to winning the war. Lawsuits usually involve many reasonably disputed issues and a lawyer who takes on only those battles he is certain of winning is probably not serving his client vigorously enough; losing is part of winning. The County would have us scalpel out attorney’s fees for every setback, no matter how temporary, regardless of its relationship to the ultimate disposition of the case. This makes little sense. We hold, instead, that a plaintiff who is unsuccessful at a stage of litigation that was a necessary step to her ultimate victory is entitled to attorney’s fees even for the unsuccessful stage.

Id. at 1052-53 (citations omitted).

As in Alizadeh, the prevalent approach is to inquire whether the plaintiffs have prevailed in the litigation as a whole. Schneider v. Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico, 187 F.3d 30, 48 (1st Cir.1999) (Lipez, J., concurring); see also Retained Realty, Inc. v. Spitzer, 643 F.Supp.2d 228, 239 (D.Conn.2009) (“Caselaw construing other statutes that provide for attorneys fees, however, suggests that in such circumstances, the prevailing party’s entitlement to attorneys’ fees includes fees for the unsuccessful stage.”). The Court will follow this approach and will not exclude fees expended in defending the appeal in the Supreme Court because Plaintiffs did not lose on the merits of any claim during the appeal and it was a necessary step to Plaintiffs’ ultimate success.

c. billing judgment

“[Plaintiffs seeking attorney’s fees are charged with the burden of showing the reasonableness of the hours billed and, therefore, are also charged with proving that they exercised billing judgment.” Saizan v. Delta Concrete Prods. Co., 448 F.3d 795, 799 (5th Cir.2006). “Billing judgment requires documentation of the hours charged and of the hours written off as unproductive, excessive, or redundant.” Id. Plaintiffs contend that they have exercised billing judgment, and that they leanly staffed this case, avoiding any duplication of tasks and using attorneys with appropriate levels of experience to handle various litigation tasks. Mr. Hebert took the lead in drafting all pleadings and other filings, handling the trial, drafting proposed interim remedial plans, and managing certain logistical matters, such as client communications. Jenner & Block attorneys, who have extensive and specialized experience in handling Supreme Court cases, performed virtually all of the appellate work in the Supreme Court. Mr. Richards served as local counsel and performed limited tasks. Plaintiffs contend that the allocation and distribution of work avoided duplication and best utilized the expertise of the attorneys. Plaintiffs state that some time has been excluded, including numerous telephone calls with clients to discuss the status of the case and time spent traveling to and from San Antonio. However, Defendants argue that Plaintiffs failed to exercise billing judgment, and that disallowing certain requested fees is warranted.

Mr. Hebert’s attorney’s fees

Gerald Hebert’s Declaration states that he excluded from his fee request “many hours of time for which [he] could be compensated,” thereby demonstrating billing judgment. Hebert states that there were “no excessive, redundant, or unnecessary hours included in the time sheets” and he avoided duplication by agreeing on a division of labor with the Jenner & Block attorneys and by coordinating with LULAC’s counsel. Hebert states that AngleStrategies served -as case/client coordinator to “undertake all logistics and facilitate communications to the client group,” and in exercising billing judgment, he excluded nearly all of his own communications with the client group, except those when time was of the essence and involved possible settlement of the lawsuit. Mr. Hebert states that he also did not include time spent, traveling back and forth from Washington, D.C. to Texas. The Declaration of Bruce Spiva attests to the exercise of sound billing judgment, noting that certain hours have been excluded and that the number of hours is “quite reasonable.” Spiva Decl. ¶¶ 17-18. Similarly, the Declaration of Steve Pershing states that he has reviewed the time-sheets in light of his own experience litigating voting rights cases and submitting fee applications, and that the hours set forth are reasonable and display sound billing judgment, “indeed significantly understating] the number of hours his fee petition could properly claim.” Pershing Decl. ¶ 17. .

Defendants argue that Mr. Hebert should not be awarded fees for pre-filing work, for client communications, and for entries that are potentially duplicative of his time spent on the Perez case. '

pre-litigation work

Mr. Hebert stated in his original declaration- that he had not billed for any of the work he performed (pre-complaiht) in preparing the case. Hebert Decl.- ¶ 14. Defendants argue that preiitigation fees billed by Mr. Hebert should not be allowed because he stated that he did not bill for this work, but his time sheets include them (and therefore, all time billed before September 22, 2011 should be excluded). In response, Mr. Hebert states that the statement in his original Declaration that he excluded such work was inadvertently included, and he executed a sworn supplemental Declaration substantiating the error. Therefore, Plaintiffs contend that this time (43.8 hours) is reasonable and should be included. -

In Webb v. Board of Education, 471 U.S. 234, 105 S.Ct. 1923, 85 L.Ed.2d 233 (1985), the Supreme Court held that fees may be awarded under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 for pre-filing work performed on the litigation. Id. at 243, 105 S.Ct. 1923. Thus, “it is settled that a prevailing party may recover fees for time spent before the formal commencement of the litigation on such matters as attorney-client interviews, investigation of the facts of the case, research on the viability of potential legal claims, drafting of-the complaint and accompanying documents, and preparation for dealing with expected preliminary motions and discovery requests.” Id. at 250, 105 S.Ct. 1923. The Court has-reviewed Mr. Hebert’s submitted hours, which include discussions with clients, legal research, preparation of strategy, communications with experts, and drafting the complaint, and finds that the hours were useful, of a type ordinarily necessary to advance the litigation, and reasonably expended on the litigation. Therefore, hours billed for pre-litigation work will not be excluded.

client communications

With regard to client communications, Defendants state that Mr. Hebert billed for approximately 33 hours of client communication and excluded only 8.4 hours of that time. Defendants argue that because Mr. Hebert has not demonstrated that these communications were made when time was of the essence or for possible settlement, he has not shown that these hours are reasonable and they should not be allowed. Plaintiffs respond that a 25% discount is “no small amount” and there is no requirement that fee awards be limited to matters requiring an immediate response or involving settlement. Mr. Hebert states that he merely included these two categories of communications as examples of where he was claiming time for keeping his clients informed or when the State proposed a settlement plan. The Court finds that Mr. Hebert’s requested hours for client communication are reasonable and were expended on the litigation and should not be excluded.

duplicative hours with the Perez litigation.

Defendants also argue that Mr. Hebert fails to indicate what efforts were made to segregate his time on this case from the time claimed for work on the Perez case, in which he represents the Quesada Plaintiffs. Defendants assert that the Davis Plaintiffs’ billing records include entries for briefing and attendance at joint hearings, and these entries are also included in the fee motion in the Perez case. Defendants also note that the Davis Plaintiffs and the Quesada Plaintiffs filed similar briefs in response to Defendants’ remedial plans, but Mr. Hebert assessed 5.4 hours of time to this case and .8 hours to Perez, “despite the fact that the brief in the Perez case included additional argument.” Defendants contend that no work in Perez should be compensated in this case and, to the extent the time entries reflect work that may be attributed equally to both cases, any fee award should be reduced by half.

Plaintiffs respond that the duplication claimed by Defendants is speculative, that Mr. Hebert has not billed for any of the time in this case that he listed in the motion for the Quesada Plaintiffs in Perez and “there has been absolutely no duplication.” Docket no. 212 at 10; Hebert Supp. Deck ¶ 2. Plaintiffs argue that “Defendants cite several examples of where [Mr. Hebert] spent more time preparing for hearings in this case than he did in Perez, when hearings were jointly held,” but that is “hardly surprising” and in fact the time differences show there is no duplication. Plaintiffs state that Mr. Hebert prepared for hearings in Perez to address certain non-duplicative, limited issues in the Perez litigation, such as North Texas claims.

The Court has reviewed the time records noted by Defendants to be potentially duplicative. For the hearing on February 14, 2012, Mr. Hebert submits separate records for preparation (8.5 hours) and attendance (9 hours). For the hearing on February 15, 2012, he likewise submits separate records for preparation (3.3 hours) and attendance (6.5 hours). The time entries for attendance include the entire length of the hearings. In the Perez litigation, Mr. Hebert submits a 4-hour entry for February 14 to “prepare for[,] attend, participate in hearing before three-judge court,” and an identical 4-hour entry for February 15. Similarly, for the May 29, 2013 hearing, Mr. Hebert billed 3.4 hours in this case preparing for the hearing and 3 hours attending the hearing, which lasted from 9:00 a.m. to 11:35 a.m. Mr. Hebert also billed 3 hours in Perez to “prepare for, attend and participate in” the hearing. Last, for the status conference on July 1, 2013, Mr. Hebert billed 2.5 hours in this ease to prepare for and 2.2 hours to attend the hearing, which lasted from 9:00 a.m. to 11:14 a.m. Mr. Hebert also billed 3 hours in Perez to “prepare for, attend, and participate in proceedings” before the Court.

Thus, these entries suggest that attendance at and participation in the hearings was billed in both cases. However, Mr. Hebert’s supplemental affidavit suggests that the time billed in Perez is simply preparation for the hearing for issues specific to Perez, though that is not entirely consistent with the time records. Nevertheless, based on the evidence submitted, the Court finds that none of the time records in this case include work on the Perez litigation. Even though Mr. Hebert attended some hearings as an attorney in both cases, the Court disagrees with Defendants’ argument that, even if all attendance was billed only to this case, to the extent Mr. Hebert attended hearings for both eases, the time should be split equally between the two cases rather than allocated entirely to this case. Mr. Hebert would have attended the hearings in their entirety for this case, whether or not he represented additional parties in the Perez litigation. As a prevailing party, the Davis Plaintiffs are entitled to recover all fees reasonably spent on this litigation.

However, the time will be reduced by one hour on February 14 and 15 for lunch because the time records do not indicate whether the lunch breaks were spent working. The Court will further reduce the time billed for attending the May 29 hearing from 3 hours to 2.5 hours. This results in a total reduction of 2.5 hours.

Defendants also point to the brief in response to the Defendants’ remedial plans, for which Mr. Hebert billed 5.4 hours of time to this case and .8 hours of time to Perez, “despite the fact that the brief in the Perez case included additional argument.” Docket no. 208 at 13. The response briefs filed in the two cases are largely identical for the first few pages, and then vary regarding the position of the Department of Justice on preclearance, and the Perez brief contains an additional discussion of the various Plaintiffs’ proposed remedial plans. The time records therefore indicate that Mr. .Hebert billed the time spent on the duplicative brief for both cases to this case, and billed an additional .8 hours of time to Perez for time spent exclusively on Perez. The Court finds that no time has been billed for work exclusively on the Perez litigation, and because Mr. Hebert would have expended the 5.4 hours for work on this case regardless of whether he represented clients in the Perez litigation, he may recover for the work as reasonably expended on this litigation. Therefore, no reduction is warranted.

Jenner & Block attorneys’ fees

The total amount of attorneys’ fees sought for Jenner & Block attorneys is $138,671.25, as revised. Jenner & Block submits the affidavit of Paul Smith, who states that the hours of attorney time submitted were actually expended, that he excluded time for certain attorneys who provided periodic assistance in the case but were not principally involved in the litigation, and that the remaining time was reasonably and necessarily expended in prosecution of the action.

Defendants contend that entries for appellate work related to the Davis Plaintiffs’ unsuccessful pursuit of the legal theory that was rejected in Perry v. Perez must be excluded. This argument was rejected as explained supra. However, Defendants argue that even if fees may be awarded for this work, reduction is required because Plaintiffs’ records include vague, duplicative, and block-billed entries, and because they billed in quarter-hour increments.

duplicative work

Defendants correctly note that the Court must eliminate any duplicative or redundant time entries. Defendants assert in a conclusory manner that Jenner & Block’s records “include duplicative entries” and have noted numerous specific entries that they conclude are duplicative, but Defendants do not explain why they contend that they are duplicative. Plaintiffs state, “It appears that Defendants assert that any time a task appears more