"A subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives today considered a bill that would set new restrictions on the Equal Access to Justice Act, which allows nonprofit groups to recover attorneys fees in cases where they prove in court that the federal government is not following the law."
"The Equal Access to Justice Act, signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1980, is known as a federal fee-shifting statute. It allows attorney fees to be awarded from the federal Treasury to qualified groups or individuals who win lawsuits challenging a government action and show that the government's position was not "substantially justified."
Under the EAJA, an individual or small business with moderate income, an agricultural co-op or a nonprofit group can get back some of what it spends challenging the federal government in court.
An individual is eligible for EAJA fees if his or her net worth does not exceed $2 million, while a business is eligible if its net worth does not exceed $7 million and it had 500 or fewer employees."
Environment News Service had the story October 11, 2011.
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