Johnson v. University of Bridgeport

While it is unusual for this court to write an opinion on a purely procedural matter, it appeared to us that it would be helpful to clarify whether statutorily authorized attorneys’ fees, here under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k), and under the Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), are to be treated like contractually stipulated fees, hence barring an appeal prior to determination of them, or whether they are more “collateral” in nature and thus do not affect the finality of a judgment for purposes of appeal. We hold the former for reasons that appear…