Union awarded $165,000.50: fifty cents in damages plus $165,000 for attorney fees
Local 32B-32J, SEIU v Port Authority, USDC SDNY 96 CIV 1438
Although Locals 32B and 32J won only fifty cents in damages after refusing a settlement offer of $50,000, they were awarded attorney fees and court costs totaling more than $165,000.
Why? Because the unions were the “prevailing parties” in their challenge to picketing restrictions imposed on them by the New York-New Jersey Port Authority. The unions contended that these restrictions constituted unlawful restrictions on their right to free speech.