Attorney Fees To Demonstrators Who Carried Pictures Of Aborted Fetuses At Protest.

Group carried pictures of aborted fetuses at a busy intersection in South Carolina, and a police officer informed them they would be ticketed for breach of the peace if graphic signs were not discarded. Eventually a petition was filed by the protestors alleging their First Amendment rights were being violated when police informed the group they would ticket again in the future if the group carried the signs at another demonstration. The trial court issued a permanent injunction against police “from engaging in content based restrictions on [petitioners’] display of graphic signs.” Both the trial and appeals courts declined to award the group its attorney fees because injunctive relief only did not render the petitioners a prevailing party under the Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Awards Act of 1976 [42 U.S.C. §1988]. In a per curiam opinion, the United States Supreme Court reversed and remanded, stating:  “A plaintiff ‘prevails,’ we have held, ‘when actual relief on the merits of his claim materially alters the legal relationship between the parties by modifying the defendant’s behavior in a way that directly benefits the plaintiff.’ And we have repeatedly held than an injunction, or declaratory judgment, like a damages award, will usually satisfy that test.” Lefemine dba Christians For Life v. Wideman (U.S. Sup. Ct.; November 5, 2012) (Case No. 12-168) 133 S.Ct. 9, [184 L.Ed.2d 313; 81 U.S.L.W. 4005; 23 Fla.L.WeeklyFed.S 527].