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United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
Decided April 6, 2004
No. 02-1164
& No. 02-1203
PRECISION CONCRETE,
PETITIONER/CROSS–RESPONDENT
v.
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD,
RESPONDENT/CROSS–PETITIONER
SOUTHWEST REGIONAL COUNCIL OF CARPENTERS F/K/A
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA–NEVADA REGIONAL COUNCIL OF
CARPENTERS, AND LABORERS LOCAL UNION NO. 872,
INTERVENORS
On Petitioner’s Application for Attorneys’ Fees
–————
Before: GINSBURG, Chief Judge, and SENTELLE and
HENDERSON, Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the Court filed Per Curiam.
Bills of costs must be filed within 14 days after entry of judgment.
The court looks with disfavor upon motions to file bills of costs out
of time.
2
Per Curiam: We decided the merits of this controversy in
Precision Concrete v. NLRB, 334 F.3d 88 (D.C. Cir. 2003).
We now consider petitioner’s application for attorneys’ fees
and expenses pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act
(‘‘EAJA’’), 28 U.S.C. § 2412. Because we find that as to a
substantial portion of the litigation the General Counsel was
not substantially justified in issuing and prosecuting a com-
plaint and the Board was not substantially justified in defend-
ing its decision through litigation in this court, we award a
portion of the fees sought in the application for the reasons
more fully set forth below.
I. BACKGROUND
The factual background of the controversy is set forth in
some detail in Precision Concrete v. NLRB, 334 F.3d at 89–
90, but we need to make brief reference to pertinent portions
of the background facts in order to analyze the application
before us. Briefly put, after a contentious organization drive,
approximately 100 of Precision’s work force undertook a
strike called by the Building Trades Organizing Project (‘‘Un-
ion’’). The strike was not successful. The company hired
replacement workers and refused to reinstate the strikers.
The Union filed a series of unfair labor practice charges. The
General Counsel of the Board filed a complaint which in
addition to the charges filed by the Union alleged that the
company had committed an unfair labor practice in an inci-
dent involving an employee wearing a union t-shirt (the
‘‘Pulido–Mendez t-shirt incident’’). This was not included in
any formal unfair labor charges filed against the company.
The Administrative Law Judge (‘‘ALJ’’) hearing the com-
plaint held that the Pulido–Mendez t-shirt incident was an
unfair labor practice, that it was ‘‘closely related’’ to previous-
ly filed formal charges, and that the incident was a cause of
the strike. Because ‘‘an unfair labor practice striker who
unconditionally offers to return to work is entitled to rein-
statement,’’ Gibson Greetings, Inc. v. NLRB, 53 F.3d 385, 389
(D.C. Cir. 1995), this finding was critical to the claimed right
of the strikers to a reinstatement remedy, which they could
not obtain if the strike were economic, and not in response to
3
an unfair labor practice or practices. On appeal, the Board
upheld the decision of the ALJ. As neither the Board nor the
ALJ found any other unfair labor practice to have been a
cause of the strike, the Board’s major remedy of reinstate-
ment depended entirely on the Board’s jurisdiction over the
‘‘t-shirt’’ claim. Precision appealed to this court arguing that
the t-shirt incident was not properly before the Board. We
agreed, holding that the Board did not have jurisdiction to
adjudicate the t-shirt incident and therefore did not have
jurisdiction to enter the reinstatement relief against the
petitioning employer. See, e.g., Drug Plastics & Glass Co.,
Inc. v. NLRB, 44 F.3d 1017, 1022 (D.C. Cir. 1995) (‘‘Where
the Board is unable to connect the allegations in its complaint
with the charge allegation, we are unable to find that the
Board has jurisdiction over the unrelated complaint allega-
tions.’’). Based on our decision in its favor in Precision, the
employer now petitions this court for reimbursement of its
attorneys’ fees incurred in the matter in the amount of
$143,430.50 in attorneys’ fees and $7,994.05 in expenses.
Under the EAJA,
a court shall award to a prevailing party TTT fees and
other expenses TTT incurred by that party in any civil
action TTT including proceedings for judicial review of
agency action, brought by or against the United States in
any court having jurisdiction of that action, unless the
court finds that the position of the United States was
substantially justified or that special circumstances make
an award unjust.
28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A). Precision argues that the Board
was not ‘‘substantially justified’’ in litigating this matter and
that it is therefore entitled to reimbursement of the fees and
expenses prayed for. In support of this argument, Precision
asserts that ‘‘the Board’s insistence that it had jurisdiction
over the Mendez t-shirt incident is the primary reason Preci-
sion continued to pursue this case,’’ and that ‘‘[i]t would not
have been necessary for Precision to incur any fees beyond
the hearing before the Administrative Law Judge absent this
4
jurisdictional error by the Board.’’ Precision Concrete’s Re-
ply in Support of its Application at 4–5.
The NLRB disagrees, arguing that no fees should be
reimbursed for litigating the Pulido–Mendez t-shirt incident
because the Board was substantially justified in bringing that
action. The NLRB also argues that no fees should be
awarded for time spent on four unfair labor practices found
by the ALJ/Board. The Board also argues that Precision’s
counsel expended uncompensible hours on other arguments in
support of its petition for review of the Board’s holding on the
t-shirt incident and that petitioners should not be awarded
fees for the time spent on those arguments. Because we
agree with Precision that the NLRB acted without substan-
tial justification, we hold that it is entitled to fee reimburse-
ment under the Equal Access to Justice Act, although we will
order some reduction to the amount prayed.
II. ANALYSIS
Subject to other statutory criteria which are not in dispute
in this matter, the EAJA provides that a ‘‘prevailing party’’ in
actions ‘‘including proceedings for judicial review of agency
action, brought by or against the United States’’ are entitled
along with the customary costs of litigation to a recovery of
fees and other expenses incurred. 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A).
As Precision is obviously the prevailing party, and as there is
no dispute as to any other statutory criterion, the governing
issue in this case is whether the position of the NLRB was
substantially justified. We hold that beginning with the
review of the ALJ’s decision by the Board, it was not.1
As we made clear in the merits decision of this case, the t-
shirt incident which was the only foundation for the principal
remedy ordered by the Board and brought to us for review
first arose in an amended complaint more than six months
after the alleged incident. Section 10(b) of the National
Labor Relations Act requires that ‘‘no complaint shall issue
1 EAJA recovery of attorneys’ fees and costs is available in
adversary administrative adjudications as well as litigation in the
article III courts. See 5 U.S.C. § 504.
5
based upon any unfair labor practice occurring more than six
months prior to the filing of the charge with the Board.’’ 29
U.S.C. § 160(B) (emphasis added). While it is well estab-
lished that a complaint need not be filed within six months of
the incident and may be amended more than six months after
the incident, see NLRB v. Dinion Coil Co., 201 F.2d 484, 491
(2d Cir. 1952), the statute does require ‘‘that the complaint be
based upon an unfair labor practice charge filed within six
months of the allegedly unlawful conduct.’’ Precision, 334
F.3d at 91. Not only was there no timely charge filed as to
the t-shirt incident, no charge was ever filed alleging that
incident. The t-shirt incident appeared for the first time in
the complaint, an appearance not timely and not valid.
We have long held that ‘‘when the Board ventures outside
the strict confines of the’’ charges before it, ‘‘it must limit
itself to matters sharing a significant factual affiliation with
the activity alleged in the charge.’’ Id., quoting G.W. Gallo-
way Co. v. NLRB, 856 F.3d 275, 280 (D.C. Cir. 1988). The
Supreme Court long ago dealt with the standard of related-
ness governing the Board’s ability to pass on allegations of
unfair labor practices raised for the first time in a complaint
but not part of the timely filed charge underlying the com-
plaint. NLRB v. Fant Milling Co., 360 U.S. 301 (1959). In
Fant Milling, the Supreme Court held that the Board may
prosecute unfair labor practices not specifically alleged in a
charge where such practices are ‘‘ ‘related to those alleged in
the charge and TTT grow out of them while the proceeding is
pending before the Board.’ ’’ Precision, 334 F.3d at 92,
quoting Fant Milling, 360 U.S. at 309. In Precision, we held
that the only link between the t-shirt incident and the other
charged unfair labor practices was that ‘‘all occurred during
the course of the Union’s organizing drive in 1988.’’ 334 F.3d
at 93. Since that connection was obviously insufficient under
well-established precedent, the Board had no jurisdiction to
pass on the alleged incident as an unfair labor practice and
hence no jurisdiction to enter the reinstatement order.
Therefore, Precision was plainly entitled to the relief sought
in the merits action. Id.
6
The principal question before us today is whether the
Board was substantially justified in its invalid assertion of
jurisdiction. The best evidence on that subject is the justifi-
cation which the Board offered in the merits argument.
Without rehashing that entire case, after a full review of the
Board’s arguments and the record we held that ‘‘[t]he only
link we can see is that the alleged incidents all occurred
during the course of the union’s organizing drive in 1998.’’
Precision, 334 F.3d at 93. It is well established that ‘‘coinci-
dence of the two separate violations during the same organiz-
ing campaign’’ does not meet the test of Fant Milling. Ross
Stores, Inc. v. NLRB, 235 F.3d 669, 674 (D.C. Cir. 2001).
Fant Milling made it clear in 1959 that the Board cannot
pass on allegations of unfair labor practices outside those
alleged in a timely filed charge. While this requirement has
been relaxed to the extent of permitting the Board to ‘‘include
allegations in the complaint that are not specifically asserted
in the charge,’’ Galloway, 856 F.2d at 280 (emphasis added), it
has not been abolished. The Board does not have ‘‘carte
blanche to expand the charge as [it may] please, or to ignore
it all together.’’ Id. When the Board goes beyond this clear
jurisdiction to proceed on the complaint rising out of the
timely filed charge, it can act only where there is a ‘‘ ‘signifi-
cant factual affiliation’ between the charged conduct and the
allegations in the complaint.’’ Precision 334 F.3d at 92,
quoting Galloway, 856 F.2d at 280. In the face of an
unbroken line in authority to that effect, see Drug Plastics, 30
F.3d at 172–73; Ross Stores, Inc., 235 F.3d at 674; and
Galloway, 856 F.2d at 280, the Board acted where it clearly
did not have jurisdiction. As we have stated before in an
EAJA case against another agency, ‘‘while a string of losses
is not determinative, it can be indicative that an agency’s
position lacks substantial justification.’’ Contractor’s Sand &
Gravel, Inc. v. FMSHRC, 199 F.3d 1335, 1341 (D.C. Cir.
2000) (internal quotations and citations omitted). Absent
some compelling argument for asserting jurisdiction where it
has long been held to have none, the Board cannot substan-
tially justify its action. It has offered no such compelling
justification here. We therefore conclude that Precision is
7
entitled to an award of attorneys fees and expenses under the
EAJA.
III. AMOUNT
To say that Precision is entitled to an award of attorneys’
fees is not to say that Precision is entitled to an award in the
amount prayed. ‘‘Even if an applicant meets the threshold
EAJA requirements, [it] can collect only a ‘reasonable’ fee.’’
Anthony v. Sullivan, 982 F.2d 586, 589 (D.C. Cir. 1993)
(quoting Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization
Service v. Jean, 496 U.S. 154, 161 (1990)). Precision seeks
compensation for 1,151.4 hours of attorney time at the statu-
tory rate of $125 per hour (see 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(2)(A)) for
a total of $143,925.00.2 While the rate is fixed by statute, the
NLRB contends, and we agree, that the hours asserted are
excessive. We therefore will make several deductions from
the amount prayed.
First, as to the time spent in preparation and argument
before the ALJ, the issues at that point were not limited to
the t-shirt incident and the affidavit filed by counsel for
Precision does not very clearly delineate time spent on the
specific issues. While the General Counsel did not have
substantial justification for the inclusion of the t-shirt inci-
dent, as to the other issues, regardless of whether Precision
won or lost, there is no claim that they were filed without
substantial justification. Precision’s counsel has given us
little help in allocating the hours before the ALJ between the
t-shirt incident and other parts of the case. Presumably at
that early stage much of the background work would have
been the same with or without the invalid issue. We there-
fore deduct 200 of the 341.3 hours prayed for preparation and
argument before the ALJ.
The next block of time is attributed to preparation and
argument before the Board as well as contemporaneous set-
2The amount sought by Precision in its Application for Attorneys’
Fees is slightly different, $143,430.50. Considering the number of
hours sought (1,151.4), we calculate this amount to be underestimat-
ed by $495.00.
8
tlement discussions. As the Board points out to us, other
issues remained in the case at that time–issues as to which
the substantial justification of the Board’s position is not at
issue. We therefore reduce by half the 280.6 hours prayed
and deduct from the available relief the attorneys’ fees for
140.3 hours.
As to the next phase, that is time spent on the brief and
oral argument for the petition for review in this court, the
Board asserts that other issues remain, specifically procedur-
al and due process claims. We cannot agree with the Board
that the presence of the other issues should occasion a pro
rata reduction in the fees sought for appearance before this
court. Precision credibly argues that it would not have
pursued the petition for review in the absence of the clearly
erroneous jurisdictional argument upon which it did prevail.
It is not the case that the time spent on Issue A inevitably
equals the time spent on Issue B or that an appeal or petition
raising three issues would have been brought on the two
weakest of them had the first and strongest argument not
been there. Nonetheless, we agree with the Board that the
total of 500.53 hours which Precision claimed its counsel
expended on the appellate brief and argument is ‘‘unreason-
able and excessive and should be reduced.’’ As the Supreme
Court has long recognized, ‘‘cases may be overstaffed, and the
skill and experience of lawyers vary widely.’’ Hensley v.
Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 443 (1983). Therefore, we must
exclude from fee awards ‘‘hours that are excessive, redun-
dant, or otherwise unnecessary.’’ Id. The attorneys repre-
senting Precision in the court proceedings had litigated this
case in its earlier stages and were familiar with the facts and
law involved. The case was not one of great complexity or
3 The NLRB calculates the number of hours claimed for this
phase as 578, but we have recalculated the prayer of Precision and
believe the figure 500.5 more fairly represents the portion attribut-
able to the petition for review. The Board’s calculation and ours
have been made quite difficult by the failure of Precision anywhere
to total its hours claimed, let alone subtotal the same into workable
units. Therefore, both the Board and the court have done the best
we can with the raw data supplied by Precision.
9
based on an unusually voluminous record. We see nothing in
this case that warranted the expenditure of over twelve and a
half weeks at forty hours per week of professional time.
Obedient to Hensley v. Eckerhart, that we should exclude
‘‘hours that were not ‘reasonably expended’ ’’ and consider the
possibility of overstaffing, id., we have reviewed the nature of
this litigation and the quality of the representation. In light
of counsel’s familiarity with the case, the lack of complexity
and the product presented to this court, we order reduction of
the time spent in litigation before this court by fifty percent,
or rounding to the nearest tenth, 250.2 hours.
We therefore reduce the total compensable hours by 590.6
hours, to 560.8 hours and award counsel fees in the total
amount of $70,100.00.
IV. EXPENSES
Precision seeks expenses in the amount of $7,994.05. Ap-
plication for Attorneys’ Fees at 31–35. The NLRB notes that
Precision’s request includes expenses for travel, courier ex-
penses, overnight delivery, facsimile transmissions, telephone
costs, and taxis, which the NLRB argues are not reimbursa-
ble under the EAJA. See Epilepsy Found. of Northeast Ohio
v. NLRB, 2002 WL 1331873 at *2 (D.C. Cir. 2002) (unpub-
lished opinion); Mass. Fair Share v. Law Enforcement Ad-
min., 776 F.2d 1066, 1069–70 (D.C. Cir. 1985).
Precision replies the NLRB is correct that these expenses
are not recoverable under this court’s prior decisions, but
argues that ‘‘in this era where facsimile and FedEx are the
standard means of delivery in most law offices, these ex-
penses are in line with the statutory objectives.’’
Be that as it may, the NLRB has correctly listed Preci-
sion’s requested expenses that are not reimbursable under
the EAJA. Opposition of NLRB to Precision Concrete’s
Application, Exhibit B at 3–4. It would appear that, pursuant
to the EAJA and this court’s prior decisions, the NLRB’s
calculation that $2,462.83 in expenses should be deducted is
correct.
We therefore award expenses in the amount of $5,531.22.
10
V. CONCLUSION
For the reasons set forth above, we hold that petitioners
are entitled to attorneys’ fees in the amount of $70,100.00 and
expenses in the amount of $5,531.22.
So ordered.