New legislation entitled the Government Litigation Savings Act (pdf), sponsored by Representative Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) would limit the amount of attorneys’ fees recovered in lawsuits against the federal government.  The bill (HR 1996 and S 1061) would cap attorneys’ fees and block groups whose net worth exceeds $7 million from filing for payment under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) of 1980.  According to the bill, all attorney fees will be capped at $175 per hour, the bill would also remove all multipliers, place a $200,000 limit for any single lawsuit, and no more than three EAJA awards in any calendar year can be awarded to the same claimant.

Legal action against the federal government can be very costly and the EAJA authorizes the reimbursement of attorney fees and expenses for prevailing litigants.  If passed, many organizations, especially environmental groups, would not be able to afford to bring important environmental actions against the federal government.  What is more, imposing caps on attorney fees sets a bad precedent.  Attorney fees are compensation.  In a free market economy, it is wrong for the federal government to limit compensation for any one particular profession.  “At NALFA, we believe judges should decide reasonable attorney fees, not politicians,” said Terry Jesse, Executive Director of NALFA.