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William T. Schmitt, et al. v. Craig M. Stephens, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 20-4025 · judgment June 15, 2021

Certiorari denied · November 8, 2021

Pre-decision estimate: 7% cert probability (95% interval 5%–11%)

Before the decision, about 1.7× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and a Sixth Circuit decision below.

Questions presented

Whether the successful appeal of a final judgment by a “closely interwoven” co-defendant equitably relieves a non-appealing defendant of the preclusive effects of that adverse final judgment.
Whether an appellate court’s rejection of a prevailing plaintiff’s “key legal argument” supporting the plaintiff’s final judgment constitutes a “special circumstance” justifying the denial of an attorney’s fee award under 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b) from a non-appealing defendant who remains bound by the judgment.
Whether Sole v. Wyner overrides the principles of res judicata recognized in Federated Department Stores v. Moitie.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Mark R. Brown

For respondent
Pamela Joy Holder
Portage County Prosecutor

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

Nov 08 2021
Petition DENIED.
Oct 20 2021
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/5/2021.
Oct 18 2021
Waiver of right of respondent Craig Stephens, et al. to respond filed.
Main Document
Sep 30 2021
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 3, 2021)
Petition Appendix Certificate of Word Count Proof of Service