No Attorneys' Fees Awarded In Litigation Over Bible Sign

In Signs for Jesus v. Town of Chichester, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103430 (D NH, Sept. 13, 2011), a New Hampshire federal district court refused to grant costs and attorneys' fees under 42 USC Sec. 1988 to a group that ultimately prevailed at the town Planning Board and obtained permission to put up an electronic message sign to display Christian Bible verses. Plaintiffs sued after an initial refusal of their site plan, claiming free exercise and RLUIPA violations. (See prior posting.) Subsequently the Planning Board reversed its decision and approved the sign (see prior posting), and the court approved a consent decree dismissing the lawsuit.  Now, in a dispute over reimbursement of attorneys' fees, the court held that plaintiffs were not "prevailing parties" under Sec. 1988 because they received no material relief from the court.  The court said:

While plaintiffs have received site-plan approval (and a building permit), the Consent Decree awarded them substantially none of the relief they sought in their complaint. The Planning Board approved plaintiffs' site plan a month before the Consent Decree became effective and, for its part, the Consent Decree provided plaintiffs with no injunctive relief, no declaratory relief, no damages, no certiorari order, and no determination regarding the merits of plaintiffs' appeal of the ZBA's decision.