Ibrahim v. DHS, No. 14-16161 (9th Cir. 2019)
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The en banc court reversed the district court, vacated the award of attorneys' fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), and remanded with instructions to recalculate the attorney fees for the civil rights law firm that represented plaintiff.
The en banc court clarified that when a district court awards complete relief on one claim, rendering it unnecessary to reach alternative claims, the alternative claims cannot be deemed unsuccessful for the purpose of calculating a fee award. The en banc court rejected the post hoc "mutual exclusivity" approach to determining whether "unsuccessful" claims are related to succesful claims and reaffirmed that Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424 (1983), sets forth the correct standard of "relatedness" for claims under the EAJA. The en banc court reaffirmed that in evaluating whether the government's position is substantially justified, the court looks at whether the government's and the underlying agency's positions were justified as a whole and not at each stage.
Court Description: Equal Access to Justice Act / Attorneys’ Fees The en banc court reversed the district court, vacated the award of attorneys’ fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”), and remanded with instructions to recalculate the fees for the civil rights law firm that represented Dr. Rahinah Ibrahim in her successful challenge to her inclusion on the Transportation Security Administration’s “No Fly” list. The en banc court held that when a district court awards complete relief on one claim, rendering it unnecessary to reach alternative claims, the alternative claims cannot be deemed unsuccessful for the purpose of calculating a fee award. The en banc court rejected the post hoc “mutual exclusivity” approach to determining whether “unsuccessful” claims were related to successful claims and reaffirmed that Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424 (1983), sets forth the correct standard of “relatedness” for claims under EAJA. The en banc court reaffirmed that in evaluating whether the government’s position is substantially justified, the court looks at whether the government’s and the underlying agency’s positions were justified as a whole and not at each stage of the litigation. Applying these standards, the en banc court held that the various stages at issue here were all part of one litigation in federal court where the case was never returned to an agency for further proceedings, and, therefore, Corbin v. Apfel,
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on August 30, 2016.
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