EAJA Awards
| Agency | Agency subcomponent | Name | Award date | Award amount | Awardees | Claims description | Finding basis | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management (BLM) | San Juan Citizens Alliance, Inc. v. BLM |
$ 80,000
|
Travis E. Stills | Complaint alleging that Defendants unlawfully withheld agency records and engaged in a pattern-and-practice of acting unlawfully in responding to FOIA requests. | Court denied U.S. motion to dismiss the entire case and also denied U.S. motion for summary judgment to dismiss to of the three claims. | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management (BLM) | Sierra Club, et al. v. Bernhardt |
$ 238,000
|
Earthjustice, Western Environmental Law Center, Environmental Law and Policy Center, and Clean Air Task Force | Relates to BLM's reconsideration of the Waste Prevention Rule and a proposed Revision Rule that would rescind certain provisions. | Not Provided | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management (BLM) | Western Organizaton of Resource Councils, et al. v. BLM |
$ 238,685
|
Western Environmental Law Center | Plaintiffs challenged Federal Defendants' approval of Resource Management Plans ("RMPs") for two adjacent field offices in the Powder River Basin: the Miles City Field Office in Montana and the Buffalo Field Office in Wyoming. Federal Defendants approved these RMPs, and 10 others, through a single Record of Decision. | Court found that BLM did not have a reasonable range of alternatives for coal lands made available for leasing in Miles City and Buffalo RMPs | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management (BLM) | Western Watersheds Project v. Zinke (sage-grouse RMP) |
$ 280,000
|
Advocates for the West | Complaint alleging BLM did not adequately protect the sage grouse and challenged 16 Resource Management Plans. | Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Land Management (BLM) | White Pine County v. BLM |
$ 80,000
|
Simeon Herskovits | Complaint alleging that Federal Defendants violated the National Environmental Policy Act, FLPMA, and failing to Demonstrate Compliance with the Ely District Resource Management Plan. | Not Provided | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) | AquAlliance v. BOR |
$ 145,000
|
Aqua Terra Aeris Law Group / Jason Flanders | Plaintiffs challenged Defendants' "10-year water transfer program to move water from sellers located upstream of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta to willing buyers south of the Delta". | Not Provided | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) | Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Savage (E. Reservoir) |
$ 163,234
|
Rebecca Smith and Tim Bechtold | Ninth Circuit sided with Plaintiff holding that the Federal Defendents acted arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to first assess the baseline road mileage within the BORZ, in violation of NFMA. | Court found the plaintiffs prevailed under EAJA and ESA | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) | American Stewards of Liberty; Charles Shell; Cheryl Shell; Walter Sidney Shell Management Trust; Kathryn Heidemann; Robert V. Harrison, Sr. v. DOI |
$ 160,000
|
Paul S. Weiland, Nossaman LLP | Plaintiffs alleged the FWS violated the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) in connection with the Service’s negative 90-day finding, 80 Fed. Reg. 30,990 (June 1, 2015), which found Plaintiffs’ 2014 petition requesting removal of the Bone Cave harvestman from the federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife under the ESA did not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that delisting may be warranted. | Court finding that agency decision was arbitrary and capricious | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) | Buffalo Field Campaign v. Jewell |
$ 77,407
|
Michael Harris | Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit challenging FWS’s 90-day finding that the petitions to list the Yellowstone bison under the Endangered Species Act did not provide substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted, 81 Fed. Reg. 1368 (Jan. 12, 2016). | Court found that FWS's 90-day finding was arbitrary and caprious. | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) | Center for Biological Diversity v. FWS |
$ 13,393
|
Ryan Shannon | Relates to two separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests submitted to FWS. The agency response schedule was affected by a government shutdown. | Missed statutory deadline | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) | Front Range Nesting Bald Eagle Studies v. FWS |
$ 65,000
|
Eubanks & Associates, LLC | Lawsuit alleges violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (“BGEPA”) related to FWS’s issuance of an eagle incidental take permit to Garrett Construction Company, LLC, for the potential take of nesting bald eagles due to the disturbance associated with constructing an apartment complex in proximity to their nest (“the Garrett permit”). | Court ruled for Plaintiffs and vacated permit and EA | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) | Red Wolf Coalition, et al. v. FWS |
$ 620,000
|
Southern Environmental Law Center | Plaintiffs filed a complaint in this matter alleging the Service violated the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) and the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) in connection with its management of the nonessential experimental population of red wolves in eastern North Carolina. | The Judge granted Plaintiffs' MSJ finding that the FWS violated sections 4, 7 and 9 of the ESA as regarded its Red Wolf Non-Essential Experimental Population 10(j) rule. | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) | Safari Club International & NRA v. Zinke & FWS |
$ 40,000
|
Safari Club International | Plaintiffs challenged the federal government's suspension of imports of trophies from elephants sport-hunted in Zimbabwe. | Not Provided | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) | Turtle Island Restoration Network |
$ 80,000
|
David Henkin, Earthjustice | Plaintiffs allege that the Federal Defendants violated the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act, by issuing a final rule for the Hawai’i shallow-set swordfish longline fishery that implemented new incidental take levels for certain sea turtles based on a 2012 biological opinion, and by issuing a special purpose permit allowing the fishery to incidentally take certain seabirds. | Magistrate Judge found agencies' position was substantially justified, but agencies' settled for much-reduced amount instead of pursuing further litigation based on unfavorable case law in the Ninth Circuit. | Show | |
| U.S. Department of the Interior | Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) | Wildearth Guardians v. Hoover (Furbearer CITES and ESA sec 7 consultation Lynx Incidental Take Statement) |
$ 145,000
|
Wildearth Guardians, Peter M.K. Frost, Matthew K. Bishop, and Sarah McMillan | Plaintiff’s lawsuit alleges violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) related to Federal Defendants’ actions to implement the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (“CITES”). | Lost on ESA sec 7 claim, no clear trigger for reinitiation of consultation | Show |