United States Ninth Circuit

In this action for costs and expenses brought by a plaintiff group of environmental and community organizations against the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) after plaintiff participated in a successful challenge to OSM's grant of a coal mining permit revision, the district court's judgment affirming the administrative law judge's (ALJ) dismissal of the fee petition based on the conclusion that plaintiff was not "eligible" and was not "entitled" to costs and expenses under 43 C.F.R. section 4.1294(b) is reversed in part and vacated in part, where: 1) plaintiff was "eligible" for fees because it showed some degree of success on the merits, and the agency's contrary conclusion was error as a matter of law; and 2) the district court must remand to the agency for further proceedings on the question of "entitlement," as the Ninth Circuit cannot be sure how the agency will view substantial contribution when told that plaintiff was in fact eligible for fees, contrary to the agency's prior rationale.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/26/2015
• Published 01/26/2015

Judges

• Gould

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel