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89-994.S
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Subject: WEST VIRGINIA UNIV. HOSPITALS, INC. v. CASEY, Syllabus
NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as
is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is
issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but
has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the
reader. See United States v. Detroit Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS, INC. v. CASEY, GOVERNOR OF
PENNSYLVANIA, et al.
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the third circuit
No. 89-994. Argued October 9, 1990 -- Decided March 19, 1991
After petitioner West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc. (WVUH), prevailed
at trial in its suit under 42 U. S. C. MDRV 1983 against respondent
Pennsylvania officials over medicaid reimbursement rates for services
provided Pennsylvania residents, the District Court awarded fees pursuant
to MDRV 1988, which, inter alia, gives the court in certain civil rights
suits discretion to allow the prevailing party "a reasonable attorney's fee
as part of the costs." WVUH's award included fees attributable to an
accounting firm and three doctors specializing in hospital finance hired to
assist in the preparation of the suit and to testify. The Court of Appeals
affirmed as to the merits, but reversed as to the expert fees, disallowing
them except to the extent that they fell within the $30-per-day fees for
witnesses provided by 28 U. S. C. 15 1920(3) and 1821(b).
Held: Fees for services rendered by experts in civil rights litigation may
not be shifted to the losing party as part of "a reasonable attorney's fee"
under MDRV 1988. Pp. 2-18.
(a) Sections 1920 and 1821(b) define the full extent of a federal
court's power to shift expert fees, whether testimonial or nontestimonial,
absent "explicit statutory authority to the contrary." Crawford Fitting
Co. v. J. T. Gibbons, Inc., 482 U. S. 437, 439; see id., at 441. This
Court will not lightly infer that Congress has repealed those sections
through a provision like MDRV 1988 that does not refer explicitly to
witness fees. See id., at 445. Pp. 2-4.
(b) Statutory usage before, during, and after 1976 (the date of MDRV
1988's enactment) did not regard the phrase "attorney's fees" as embracing
fees for experts' services. Pp. 4-8.
(c) At the time of MDRV 1988's enactment, judicial usage did not regard
the phrase "attorney's fees" as including experts' fees. Pp. 8-13.
(d) Where, as here, a statute contains a phrase that is unambiguous,
this Court's sole function is to enforce it according to its terms. See,
e. g., United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc., 489 U. S. 235, 241.
Although chronology and the remarks of some sponsors of the bill that
became MDRV 1988 suggest that it was viewed as a response to Alyeska
Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U. S. 240 (1975), the text
of MDRV 1988 is both broader and narrower than the pre-Alyeska regime. The
best evidence of congressional purpose is the statutory text, which cannot
be expanded or contracted by the statements of individual legislators or
committees during the enactment process. WVUH's argument that Congress
would have included expert fees in MDRV 1988 if it had thought about it, as
it did in the EAJA, and that this Court has a duty to ask how Congress
would have decided had it actually considered the question, profoundly
mistakes the Court's role with respect to unambiguous statutory terms. See
Iselin v. United States, 270 U. S. 245, 250-251. Pp. 13-18.
885 F. 2d 11, affirmed.
Scalia, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J.,
and White, O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter, JJ., joined. Marshall, J., filed
a dissenting opinion. Stevens, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which
Marshall and Blackmun, JJ., joined.
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