Vaughn v. Principi

02-7019 (Fed. Cir. July 24, 2003) ; Clearinghouse Number: 55372

Description

Veterans’ Court Remands to Board of Veterans’ Appeals Do Not Entitle Claimants to Equal Access to Justice Act Attorney Fees as Prevailing Parties, Federal Circuit Finds

Abstract

The Federal Circuit affirmed a decision by the Court of Appeals for Veterans’ Claims that remands to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals did not entitle claimants of veterans’ benefits to attorney fees as “prevailing parties” under the Equal Access to Justice Act. In so ruling, the Federal Circuit relied on decisions in Buckhannon Board and Care Home Inc. v. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, 532 U.S. 598 (2001) (Clearinghouse No. 53,373), and Brickwood Contractors v. United States, 288 F.3d 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2002). The Federal Circuit consolidated two Equal Access to Justice Act appeals: one had been remanded for readjudication after passage of the Veterans’ Claims Assistance Act of 2000; the other remand followed claimant’s motion for reconsideration based on newly acquired material evidence. The court said that Buckhannon drew a bright line between enforceable judgments on the merits or court-ordered consent decrees on the one hand, which permitted prevailing-party status and a fee award, and achievement of the desired outcome by the “catalyst theory” on the other hand, where voluntary change in the defendant’s conduct as the result of a lawsuit did not confer prevailing-party status. The court found that the remands in both cases before it were premised on the catalyst theory and fell squarely on the side of the bright line that did not entitle parties to Equal Access to Justice Act fee awards. The remands did not give claimants any relief on the merits of their claims but only offered an opportunity for further adjudication.

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Attorney Information
Docket Date
2003-07-24 00:00:00+00:00

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