Limited Data Available on USDA and Interior Attorney Fee Claims and Payments.

摘要

In the United States, parties involved in federal litigation generally pay their own attorney fees. There are many exceptions to this general rule where statutes authorize the award of attorney fees to a successful, or prevailing, party. Some of these provisions also apply to the federal government when it loses a case. In 1980, Congress passed the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) to allow parties that prevail in cases against federal agencies to seek reimbursement from the federal government for attorney fees, where doing so was not previously authorized. The premise of EAJA was to help ensure that decisions to contest administrative actions are based on the merits and not the cost of litigation, thereby encouraging agencies to base such actions on informed deliberation. Although all federal agencies are generally subject to, and make payments under, attorney fee provisions, some in Congress have expressed concerns about the use of taxpayer funds to make attorney fee payments with agencies limited funding, such as concerns that environmental organizations are using taxpayer dollars to fund lawsuits against the government, particularly against the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of the Interior (Interior), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the context of judicial cases those brought in a court, including those that are settled the law generally provides for three ways that prevailing parties can be eligible for the payment of attorney fees by the federal government.