CIT Orders Government to Pay Attorneys' Fees to Cover Importer's Attorney Fee Request

The Court of International Trade on Dec. 15 ordered the government to compensate a tobacco importer for its effort to get the government to pay attorneys’ fees, on top of the fees themselves (here). The court had already awarded Shah Bros. $217,324.29 in attorneys’ fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) after the government allowed litigation to proceed in a classification even though it had conceded in a case involving identical merchandise four years earlier (see 14092303). The importer sought more attorneys’ fees to cover its EAJA request. The government argued CIT can’t award attorneys’ fees to cover attorneys’ fees requests, but the court disagreed, finding fee awards cover “all aspects of the civil action.” However, CIT reduced the fee award by 11 percent because of unrelated attorney bills and unfiled motions in Shah Bros. fee requests, as well as another 11 percent reduction “to reflect the degree of success obtained by [Shah Bros.] in fee litigation.” The court ordered the government to pay Shah Bros. a further $6,312.50 to cover the EAJA fee request, for a grand total of $223,636.79 in attorneys’ fees for the entire case.