EEOC Ordered To Pay $4 Million In Attorney’s Fees
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Iowa ordered the EEOC to pay over $4 million dollars of an employer’s attorney’s fees for its succesful defense of a class action sexual harassment suit brought by the EEOC. The case, which was originally commenced in 2007, has been the subject of much commentary as it has unfolded. At one point in the proceeding, the EEOC alleged that it reasonably believed 270 other women could be included in the suit as having actionable claims against the employer. As the numbers and names were adjusted, the district court expressed concern that the employer was facing a “moving target” and, as such, the district court ordered the EEOC to make potential claimants available for deposition. The court later found that the EEOC failed to make all potential claimants available for deposition and, as a result, the court barred the EEOC from seeking relief for any potential class member who did not testify. The court also precluded the EEOC from offering evidence with respect to those potential claimants. In sum, as the case continued, the EEOC’s claim lessened and, ultimately, the district court found that, with respect to some claimants, the EEOC “wholly abandoned its statutory duties,” in part, because it failed to investigate those individuals’ claims until after suit was filed.
As employers are aware, a defendant in a Title VII case must prove that the plaintiff’s action was “frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation, even though not brought in subjective bad faith” in order to recover its attorney’s fees and costs. In this case, the federal court found that the employer had met that burden and established that many of the EEOC’s claims were “unreasonable.” As a result, the court awarded the employer attorney’s fees in the amount of $4,189,296.10 and costs in the amount of $413,387.58 for a total judgment of $4,694,422.12 against the EEOC.