By Patricia Manson
Law Bulletin staff writer
A federal judge has awarded more than $5.7 million in attorney fees to child-care workers who successfully challenged certain practices followed by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services when investigating allegations of abuse or neglect.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer awarded the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit $5,737,401.83 in attorney fees and interest and an additional $48,827.80 in costs.
The award was a little less than the amount the plaintiffs had sought for 10 years of work on the case.
But the award was much higher than the $1,803,590.56 in attorney fees and $12,421.08 in costs that DCFS had contended was due the plaintiffs.
The suit alleged that DCFS was violating the right to due process by purportedly relying on nominal evidence when issuing "indicated" reports finding there was support for a claim of abuse or neglect.
The suit also alleged that DCFS further violated the right to due process by maintaining the reports on a statewide register accessible to child-care facilities licensed by DCFS.
In 2001, Pallmeyer found that certain DCFS practices deprived the plaintiffs of their constitutional rights.
Pallmeyer entered a preliminary injunction in 2003 requiring DCFS to change those practices.
In 2005, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed most of the injunction's provisions.
In awarding fees and costs, Pallmeyer in an opinion made available Friday said the bulk of the work for the plaintiffs was performed by Chicago attorneys Robert E. Lehrer and Diane L. Redleaf.
The two formerly were the principals of Lehrer & Redleaf.
Lehrer now heads the Law Offices of Robert E.Lehrer, while Redleaf is the executive director of a not-for-profit entity called the Family Defense Center.
Also representing the plaintiffs was Chicago attorney Jeffrey B. Gilbert of the firm now called Johnson, Jones, Snelling, Gilbert & Davis.
Other attorneys who represented the plaintiffs included Andrew L. Mathews and Marshall Seeder, both of Reed, Smith LLP in Chicago.
Also serving as the plaintiffs' lawyers were Jack L. Block, now deputy director of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago; Joan Matlack, now with the Illinois attorney general's office; and Amy Lauren Zimmerman, now with Health & Disability Advocates in Chicago.
Chicago attorney Edward W. Feldman of Miller, Shakman & Beem LLP, handled the fee petition for the plaintiffs.
On Monday, Feldman said the plaintiffs' attorneys were pleased with Pallmeyer's "thorough and thoughtful opinion."
"It took nearly a decade for counsel to secure an important and hard-fought victory that protects the due process rights of a class of thousands of people who work with children," Feldman said. "The fee award fulfills Congress' intent that a reasonable attorneys' fee be paid to secure constitutional rights."
Pallmeyer awarded the fees and costs in Belinda DuPuy, et al. v. Erwin McEwen, No. 97 C 4199.