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One of our top five most intriguing cases of 2010 - EEOC o/b/o Serrano, et al v. Cintas Corp., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18130 (E.D. Mich. Mar. 2, 2010) - heated up again last week by virtue of a decision by Judge Sean Cox from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to award the Cintas Corporation $2,638,443 in fees and costs. The ruling is a resounding defeat for the EEOC's systemic litigation program.

In earlier proceedings in EEOC o/b/o Serrano, the EEOC refused to identify the women it represented in a gender discrimination case, claiming they should only be identified in a later phase of the case. The Court disagreed, noting that "Defendant quite reasonably seeks to focus its attention upon the specific women on whose behalf the EEOC intends to seek damages. The information is relevant to the issues in controversy … and the EEOC has no principled reason to withhold it." The Court relied on and reinforced the explosive ruling in EEOC v. CRST Van Expedited, Inc., 257 F.R.D. 513 (N.D. Iowa 2008), in which the EEOC similarly stonewalled the company in explaining who it sought to represent; that tactic ultimately resulted in the Court entertaining motions for a $4.5 million in that Iowa case. 

After the Court in EEOC o/b/o Serrano, et al v. Cintas Corp. dismissed the litigation brought by the EEOC, the defendant sought costs of $1,097,918.37 and attorneys' fees of $4,595,432.89. After extensive briefing, the Court gave the fee and costs award a significant haircut, but still left the EEOC owing over $2.6 million in fees and costs (link to decision here).

Overall Attorneys Fees Reduced
The amount of attorneys' fees is where the Court made its most significant cuts. Cintas sought just under $4.6 million in fees in this case, and $2.5 million of that was for fees it accumulated between the time the case was filed by the private plaintiffs to the date those private plaintiffs moved for (and lost) class certification. Cintas asked the Court to award it 33% of those fees. The Court was not persuaded by the employer’s backup for the fees for this phase of the case,

By Christopher DeGroff and Gerald L. Maatman, Jr.

Read more here  

http://www.workplaceclassaction.com/eeoc-litigation/court-sanctions-the-eeoc-for-26-million-in-fees-and-costs/

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