Cities4Life, Inc. v. City of Charlotte, No. 21-1322 (4th Cir. 2022)
Annotate this Case
The City of Charlotte appeals the district court’s order granting attorney’s fees and costs to Plaintiffs, an antiabortion organization and four of its members, following a consent judgment. The district court held that Plaintiffs were “prevailing parties” under 42 U.S.C. Section 1988. On appeal, Plaintiffs also urged the court to reconsider the district court’s fee award.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that “prevailing party” is a legal term of art that the court interprets consistently across all federal fee-shifting statutes. A civil-rights plaintiff “‘prevails’ when actual relief on the merits of his claim materially alters the legal relationship between the parties by modifying the defendant’s behavior in a way that directly benefits the plaintiff.” The court explained that here, the consent judgment easily passes the test. The City doesn’t dispute that the consent decree is enforceable by the court and that it alters the legal relationship between Plaintiffs and the City. As the district court explained, the City’s enforcement of the Picketing Ordinance previously “resulted in a complete ban” on “pedestrian vehicular approaches.” Thus, because the consent judgment conferred prevailing-party status on Plaintiffs, the district court was free to award them fees and costs.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.