Jane L. v. Bangerter
United States District Court for the District of Utah
828 F. Supp. 1544 (1993)
- Written by Whitney Kamerzel , JD
Facts
Jane L. (plaintiff) sued Norman Bangerter (defendant), the governor of Utah, challenging statutes within the Utah Abortion Act, including those addressing a baby’s viability date and a spousal-notification requirement. The statutes were challenged on a wide range of dissimilar or implausible constitutional legal theories. The district court struck down the statutes addressing a baby’s viability date and spousal-notification requirements, but the plaintiffs were unsuccessful under all other theories and claims. Both parties requested attorney’s fees, arguing they were the prevailing party. Jane’s New York lawyers did not include detailed records tracking their time, and much of the tracked time was spent reviewing without specificity about what was reviewed or why. Time spent traveling and working on public-relations tasks was also tracked. All tracked time was priced above New York market rates. Bangerter’s lawyers included records detailing reasonable time charged at a reasonable hourly rate.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Greene, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 899,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 47,000 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

