Lessons for employers from extended EEOC litigation

Lawyers love to follow the intricacies of litigation. We read court decisions and follow cases through trial like some people keep up with the latest happenings on their favorite TV dramas. Here's an overview of a case that began in Iowa and went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Battle over attorneys' fees

From the start, CRST Van Expedited v. EEOC has been interesting to follow. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit on behalf of more than 250 women who alleged they were sexually harassed while they worked for CRST, a Cedar Rapids-based trucking company. The district court decided that the EEOC had missed some steps in the administrative process before it filed a number of the claims, deeming 67 of them to be “frivolous,” and ordered the agency to pay more than $4.6 million in attorneys' fees to CRST. The U.S. Supreme Court later expressed similar concerns about the EEOC's case.

After numerous appeals that went all the way to the Supreme Court and followed a path back down to the district court, the final ruling requires the EEOC to pay CRST $3.3 million. The appeals all focused on how the employer's legal fees would be calculated. The Supreme Court stated that only “rough justice” was required and the district court need not become a “green-eyeshade accountant” in determining the number.