Attorney Fees

ORS 20.107
Attorney and expert witness fees and other costs on claim of unlawful discrimination

  • defense

(1)

In any civil judicial proceeding, including judicial review of an administrative proceeding based on a claim of unlawful discrimination, the court shall award to the prevailing plaintiff attorney and expert witness fees reasonably and necessarily incurred in connection with the discrimination claim, at the trial court or agency level and on appeal. The court may award reasonable attorney fees and expert witness fees incurred by a defendant who prevails in the action if the court determines that the plaintiff had no objectively reasonable basis for asserting a claim or no reasonable basis for appealing an adverse decision of a trial court or agency.

(2)

In making an award under this section, the court shall calculate attorney and expert witness fees on the basis of a reasonable hourly rate at the time the award is made, multiplied by the amount of time actually and reasonably spent in connection with the discrimination claim.

(3)

When an award under this section is made against a state agency or an officer or employee of a state agency, the award shall be paid by the agency directly from funds available to it.

(4)

As used in this section, “unlawful discrimination” means discrimination based upon personal characteristics including, but not limited to, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, alienage, marital status or age. [1985 c.768 §1; 1995 c.618 §20; 2007 c.100 §14; 2021 c.367 §3]

Notes of Decisions

This section does not limit attorney fees only to statutory claims. Plaintiff, who brought both common law and statutory claims, may collect attorney fees under this section. Kemp v. MasterBrand Cabinets, Inc., 257 Or App 530, 307 P3d 491 (2013)

Source

Last accessed
Mar. 11, 2023

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