Fourth Circuit to Revisit Attorneys’ Fee Bar for Injunctions

The full Fourth Circuit agreed Tuesday to revisit a ruling that denied attorneys’ fees to Virginia drivers who got a preliminary injunction against a later-repealed law that automatically suspended their licenses for failure to pay court costs and fines.

The drivers, who had argued that the law unfairly punished them for being poor in violation of their due process and equal protection rights, lost their bid for attorneys’ fees in June. A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said that under circuit precedent, preliminary injunctions don’t confer the “prevailing party” status required for an ...