Project Posner

Lead opinion by POSNER

   MEMORANDUM

   I have before me the plaintiffs' petition for an award of attorney's fees in this action. The plaintiffs are entitled to a reasonable attorney's fee, but the petition they have submitted provides a wholly inadequate basis for the award that they seek. As pointed out by the defendant in its reply to the petition, the petition asks for reimbursement of all the plaintiffs' attorney's fees and related expenses incurred in this action, even though the plaintiffs prevailed on only a portion of their claim, the rest of the claim being clearly barred by a controlling precedent of the court of appeals, Caporale v. Mar Less, Inc., 656 F.2d 242 (7th Cir. 1981), in which the plaintiffs' counsel was also involved. The defendant's reply also points to a number of other deficiencies in the petition, and the plaintiffs have not replied. Before I make the award, I should like to hear what the plaintiffs have to say about the defendant's reply to their petition, and I thereby direct the plaintiffs to submit, within 15 days of receipt of this order, a brief reply. I will then move promptly to enter the award.