This bill changes rules about when private parties can get attorneys' fees and other litigation expenses from federal agencies or the United States. It narrows who is eligible by requiring a prevailing party to have a direct and personal monetary interest, such as personal injury, private property damage, or unpaid agency disbursement. It sets caps: no award over $200,000 in a single adjudication or civil action, and no awards for more than three actions in the same calendar year, unless the prevailing party has filed and prevailed in a class action or the Social Security Administration or Department of Veterans Affairs is a party. The bill also directs courts to reduce or deny awards based on pro bono hours and allows denial for parties or the United States that acted in an obdurate, dilatory, mendacious, oppressive manner, or in bad faith.
The bill further bars settlement agreements or consent decrees that produce a regulation or a guidance document, where a federal agency is a party, from including payment of attorneys' fees or litigation costs. It defines "guidance document" broadly (for example, memoranda, notices, bulletins, directives, letters, no-action letters, speeches, manuals) and defines "regulation" to mean agency statements intended to have the force of law, including certain rulemaking, with some listed exceptions.
Finally, the bill requires the Secretary of the Interior, within 5 years of enactment, to assemble a five-member independent scientific panel to assess how the bill's provisions affect the ecological, social, and economic sustainability of federally managed lands. The panel must study forest and rangeland health, wildfire and insect susceptibility, biodiversity, watershed quality, and economic productivity, and report to congressional committees. The bill specifies membership types for the panel and sets when the fee changes apply to new cases.
If you sue a federal agency or the United States and win, you must show a direct, personal monetary interest (for example, an injury, property damage, or unpaid agency disbursement) to be eligible for fee awards. Fee awards are generally capped at $200,000 per case and capped at three cases per year unless an exception applies. Settlements or consent decrees that lead to new agency regulations or guidance cannot include payments for attorneys' fees or litigation costs. Agencies and affected communities will also be subject to a later review about effects on federal lands.
No publicly available information on estimated federal costs or savings is included in the bill text or metadata. The bill sets limits on fee awards and disallows fee payments in certain settlements, but it does not provide a cost estimate.
The bill seeks to limit large or frequent awards of attorneys' fees and to prevent the use of fee payments in settlements that create regulations or guidance. It adds eligibility requirements for fee awards, places per-case and per-year caps, requires consideration of pro bono work when setting awards, and establishes an independent assessment of effects on federally managed lands.
No publicly available information.