TRANSSEXUAL BIAS Cincy has to pay for extra fees to lawyers

The law says lawyers can collect extra for civil rights cases.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- A judge ordered the city to pay an additional $550,000 for attorney fees in the case of a transsexual police officer who said the city discriminated against her.
Police Officer Philecia Barnes -- formerly Phil Barnes -- won $320,000 last year in U.S. District Court, after contending that her intention to change her gender was the only reason for her demotion from sergeant to patrol officer during her six-month probationary period. City lawyers had argued that Barnes' grammar, time management and paperwork were not adequate.
Civil rights case
Judge Susan Dlott said the attorney fee amount was justified because Barnes' lawsuit was an "extraordinary" civil rights case.
Federal civil rights laws allow attorneys to not only seek standard hourly fees but also enhancements of those fees based on the importance and difficulty of the case.
The law is designed to encourage lawyers to take on important civil rights cases, even if the money in dispute is small.
"This was no average sex discrimination case," Dlott wrote in her ruling Friday. "The novelty and difficulty of this question, combined with the immense skill requisite to conducting the case properly, merits an enhancement [of the fees]."
City Solicitor J. Rita McNeil said she planned to appeal.
"I think this is inappropriate," she said. "It is usually a discretionary and extreme remedy to enhance the fees, and I just don't see the basis to do so."
Barnes' attorney, Al Gerhardstein, said city officials have only themselves to blame.
Fought hard
He said if they had not discriminated against Barnes in the first place -- and then fought so hard against her in court -- the loss to city taxpayers would be much lower.
"The city brought this fee on itself," Gerhardstein said.
A jury ordered the city to reinstate her and pay her damages. Barnes could have returned to her old job as a sergeant but decided instead to take a $140,000 payment and return as a patrol officer.