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Equal Access To Justice Act, Sidney B. Jacoby

Antioch Law Journal

The new statute entitled the Equal Access to Justice Act 1 (hereinafter Act) is of great importance because it provides, on a three year experimental basis, for the award of possibly large attorneys' fees and other expenses to private parties of modest means in successful civil actions against the government, its agencies or officials. The Act, however, is specifically not applicable in tort actions. 2 The new Act entitles certain private parties prevailing in government litigation to recover attorneys' fees, expert witness fees, and other expenses against the United States, unless the government action was "substantially justified" or "special circumstances …