United States First Circuit

District court's award of attorney's fees to plaintiff, who filed an action to force government to act on his long-pending application for naturalization, is affirmed where: 1) under Equal Access to Justice Act, he was the prevailing party in the litigation; and 2) the pre-litigation position taken by the government was not substantially justified.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/01/2008
• Published 08/01/2008

Judges

• Before LYNCH, Chief Judge, TORRUELLA, BOUDIN, LIPEZ, and HOWARD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Thomas H. Dupree, Jr., Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, with whom Gregory G. Katsas, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, and Donald E. Keener, Deputy Director, were on brief for appellants., Anthony Drago, Jr., Anthony Drago, Jr., P.C., Marisa A. DeFranco, Devine Millimet & Branch, Howard Silverman, Ross, Silverman & Levy LLP, Jeanette Kain, Ilana Etkin Greenstein, Harvey Kaplan, Kaplan, O'Sullivan & Friedman, Paul Glickman, Ellen Sullivan, Glickman Turley, LLP, Vard Johnson, William Graves, Kerry Doyle, and Graves & Doyle on brief for American Immigration Lawyers Association, amicus curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Gregory Romanovsky with whom Law Offices of Gregory Romanovsky was on brief for appellee.