Shadis v. Beal

685 F.2d 824 (1982)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
S
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Shadis v. Beal

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
685 F.2d 824 (1982)

  • Written by Rose VanHofwegen, JD
Play video

Facts

Community Legal Services (CLS) is a federally funded, nonprofit corporation that contracted with the Pennsylvania Legal Services Center and the Department of Public Welfare to provide legal services to the poor. The contracts prohibited CLS from recovering attorney fees in any lawsuit against Pennsylvania (defendant). CLS brought a successful federal civil rights class action against Pennsylvania on behalf of medically needy individuals who were wrongfully denied or lost Medicaid benefits (plaintiffs). As the prevailing party, the class requested an award of fees for CLS as its counsel under the federal Civil Rights Attorney Fees Award Act. Pennsylvania objected on the ground that the contracts precluded CLS from seeking attorney fees in suits against the state. The trial court found the no-fee contract terms void because they contravened the public policy behind the act’s fee-shifting provisions and granted CLS its fees. Pennsylvania appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Hunter, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 803,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 803,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 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.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 803,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Contracts

Key Terms