The U.S. Supreme Court case Michael W. Sole, Secretary, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, et al. v. T.A Wyner et al., 2006 revolved around a dispute over the use of public land in Florida for nude sunbathing and other activities by members of a naturist organization led by Ms.T.A Wyner. The group had obtained preliminary injunctions against enforcement of regulations prohibiting nudity on state-owned beachfront property but ultimately lost at trial when it was determined that the regulations were constitutional under First Amendment standards. The issue before the court was whether or not Wyner's temporary success warranted an awarding of attorney fees under federal civil rights law which allows prevailing parties to recover legal costs from losing defendants - in this case, the State officials who enforced these rules. In a unanimous decision written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court held that because Wyner did not prevail "in any meaningful sense" as she only achieved interim relief and eventually lost on final judgment; therefore she is not entitled to attorneys' fees for her initial victory.

In the dissenting opinion for Sole v. Wyner, Justice Ginsburg argued that the lower court's award of attorney fees to Wyner was justified under the Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Awards Act of 1976. She contended that a plaintiff who secures a preliminary injunction on constitutional grounds has achieved some degree of success and should be eligible for fee-shifting, even if they ultimately lose at trial or on appeal. The majority's decision not to award fees in such cases could deter plaintiffs from pursuing civil rights litigation due to financial constraints. Furthermore, she disagreed with the majority's view that an interim victory is insignificant unless it leads directly to final relief; instead, she believed each stage in litigation holds its own importance and value.