Parmelee v. O'Neel

¶1 This case allows us to consider whether a litigant who is successful in getting an appellate court to vacate a penal infraction and to declare a Washington statute unconstitutional is a prevailing party under 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b) entitled to attorney fees. Allan Parmelee, a prisoner in the custody of Clallam Bay Corrections Center (CBCC), received an infraction for inflammatory language in a letter that complained about the treatment of prisoners at the facility. The Court of Appeals vacated the infraction after ruling that the Washington criminal libel statute, former RCW 9.58.010 (1935),…