{
  "id": "94-970",
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      "date": "2009-10-22",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T02:14:02.115356",
      "title": "Awards of Attorneys\u2019 Fees by Federal Courts and Federal Agencies",
      "summary": "In the United States, the general rule, which derives from common law, is that each side in a legal proceeding pays for its own attorney. There are many exceptions, however, in which federal courts, and occasionally federal agencies, may order the losing party to pay the attorneys\u2019 fees of the prevailing party. The major common law exception authorizes federal courts (not agencies) to order a losing party that acts in bad faith to pay the prevailing party\u2019s fees.\nThere are also roughly two hundred statutory exceptions, which were generally enacted to encourage private litigation to implement public policy. Awards of attorneys\u2019 fees are often designed to help to equalize contests between private individual plaintiffs and corporate or governmental defendants. Thus, attorneys\u2019 fees provisions are most often found in civil rights, environmental protection, and consumer protection statutes.\nIn addition, the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) makes the United States liable for attorneys\u2019 fees of up to $125 per hour in many court cases and administrative proceedings that it loses (and some that it wins) and fails to prove that its position was substantially justified. EAJA does not apply in tax cases, but a similar statute, 26 U.S.C. \u00a7 7430, does.\nMost Supreme Court decisions involving attorneys\u2019 fees have interpreted civil rights statutes, and this report focuses on these statutes. It also discusses awards of costs other than attorneys\u2019 fees in federal courts, how courts compute the amount of attorneys\u2019 fees to be awarded, statutory limitations on attorneys\u2019 fees, and other subjects. In addition, it sets forth the language of all federal attorneys\u2019 fees provisions, and includes a bibliography of congressional committee reports and hearings concerning attorneys\u2019 fees.\nIn 1997, Congress enacted a statute allowing awards of attorneys\u2019 fees to some prevailing criminal defendants.",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc819550/",
      "id": "94-970_2009Jul29",
      "date": "2009-07-29",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Awards of Attorneys\u2019 Fees by Federal Courts and Federal Agencies",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc26064/",
      "id": "94-970_2008Jun20",
      "date": "2008-06-20",
      "retrieved": "2010-07-07T17:39:19",
      "title": "Awards of Attorneys' Fees by Federal Courts and Federal Agencies",
      "summary": "In the United States, the general rule, which derives from common law, is that each side in a legal proceeding pays for its own attorney. There are many exceptions, however, in which federal courts, and occasionally federal agencies, may order the losing party to pay the attorneys' fees of the prevailing party. There are roughly two hundred statutory exceptions, which were generally enacted to encourage private litigation to implement public policy.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
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      "active": false,
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          "id": "Law",
          "name": "Law"
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        {
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          "id": "Courts",
          "name": "Courts"
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          "id": "Legal fees",
          "name": "Legal fees"
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        {
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          "id": "Executive departments",
          "name": "Executive departments"
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc806357/",
      "id": "94-970_2007Oct12",
      "date": "2007-10-12",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Awards of Attorneys\u2019 Fees by Federal Courts and Federal Agencies",
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      "type": "CRS Report",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc805136/",
      "id": "94-970_2007Mar01",
      "date": "2007-03-01",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Awards of Attorneys\u2019 Fees by Federal Courts and Federal Agencies",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs8337/",
      "id": "94-970 2006-01-24",
      "date": "2006-01-24",
      "retrieved": "2006-02-28T08:23:52",
      "title": "Awards of Attorneys' Fees by Federal Courts and Federal Agencies",
      "summary": "In the United States, the general rule, which derives from common law, is that each side in a legal proceeding pays for its own attorney. There are many exceptions, however, in which federal courts, and occasionally federal agencies, may order the losing party to pay the attorneys\u2019 fees of the prevailing party. The major common law exception authorizes federal courts (not agencies) to order a losing party that acts in bad faith to pay the prevailing party\u2019s fees. This report discusses the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), which makes the United States liable for attorneys\u2019 fees of up to $125 per hour in many court cases and administrative proceedings that it loses (and some that it wins) and fails to prove that its position was substantially justified.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
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  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy",
    "Economic Policy",
    "Energy Policy",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}