Buckhannon Board & Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Dept. of Health and Human Resources

Justice Ginsburg, with whom Justice Stevens, Justice Souter, and Justice Breyer join,

dissenting.

The Court today holds that a plaintiff whose suit prompts the precise relief she seeks does not “prevail,” and hence cannot obtain an award of attorney’s fees, unless she also secures a court entry memorializing her victory. The entry need not be a judgment on the merits. Nor need there be any finding of wrongdoing. A court-approved settlement will do.

The Court’s insistence that there be a document filed in court — a litigated judgment or court-endorsed settlement— upsets long-prevailing Circuit…