UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

Kyle Lawson, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
Robert Kelly,
Defendant.
___________________________________
State of Missouri,
Intervenor.

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No. 4:14-cv-00622-ODS

REPLY TO SUGGESTIONS IN OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR ATTORNEYS FEES AND EXPENSES

Intervenor has filed suggestions in opposition to Plaintiffs motion for attorneys fees and
expenses. Defendant has not opposed the motion, and the time for doing so has expired.
In order to ensure that lawyers would be willing to represent persons with legitimate
civil rights grievances, Congress determined that it would be necessary to compensate lawyers
for all time reasonably expended on a case. City of Riverside v. Rivera, 477 U.S. 561, 578
(1986). Counsel for prevailing parties should be paid, as is traditional with attorneys
compensated by a fee-paying client, for all time reasonably expended on a matter. Id. at 575
(quotation marks and citations omitted).
In this case, it was reasonable for Plaintiffs attorneys to research, draft, and file a motion
for remand with suggestions in support. In was similarly reasonable to make a strategic choice to
withdraw that motion after the named defendant consented to removal, thus eliminating one of
the reasons for remand. Accordingly, Plaintiffs attorneys should be compensated for the time
spent on the motion for remand.

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This Court has already concluded that consideration should not be stayed pending appeal,
stating if the Court rules on the issue of fees and costs now, any appeal from that decision could
be consolidated with the appeal on the merits. Missouris appeal on the merits has now been
filed. The motion for fees is fully briefed, and very little is in dispute. A prompt ruling would
permit any appeal to be consolidated with the appeal on the merits without causing any delay to
the schedule for the merits appeal.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Anthony E. Rothert
Anthony E. Rothert, #44827
Grant R. Doty, #60788
Andrew McNulty, #67138
ACLU of Missouri Foundation
454 Whittier Street
St. Louis, Missouri 63108
Phone: 314-652-3114
Fax: 314-652-3112
trothert@aclu-mo.org
gdoty@aclu-mo.org
amcnulty@aclu-mo.org
Gillian R. Wilcox, #61278
ACLU of Missouri Foundation
3601 Main Street
Kansas City, Missouri 64111
gwilcox@aclu-mo.org
Joshua Block, admitted pro hac vice
LGBT & AIDS Project
ACLU Foundation
125 Broad Street, 18th Floor
New York, New York 10004
ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFFS

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Certificate of Service
I certify that a copy of the forgoing was filed electronically on December 8, 2014, and
made available to counsel of record.
.
/s/ Anthony E. Rothert

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