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[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1771 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1771

To amend the provisions of title 28, United States Code, to provide for 
    the payment of attorney fees to a prevailing defendant in civil 
                    actions, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 22, 1993

 Mr. DeConcini introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the provisions of title 28, United States Code, to provide for 
    the payment of attorney fees to a prevailing defendant in civil 
                    actions, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Attorney Accountability Act of 
1993''.

SEC. 2. AWARD OF ATTORNEY FEES TO PREVAILING DEFENDANT.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 123 of title 28, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 1931 the following new section:
``Sec. 1932. Award of attorney fees to prevailing defendant
    ``(a)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, in each 
court of the United States, the court shall award reasonable attorney 
fees to a prevailing defendant from the plaintiff after the entry of 
final judgment in any civil action.
    ``(2) In an action involving multiple parties, the court may 
apportion the payment of attorney fees under paragraph (1) between or 
among plaintiffs to defendant or defendants at the court's discretion.
    ``(3) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any class 
action suit.
    ``(b) The court may waive the provisions of subsection (a) in 
exceptional cases in which the application of such subsection would be 
against equity and good conscience.
    ``(c) In any case in which the provisions of subsection (a) apply 
and the court finds that the attorney for a plaintiff has violated rule 
11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the court shall order such 
attorney to reimburse the plaintiff for the amount awarded under 
subsection (a).
    ``(d) In any case in which the provisions of subsection (a) apply 
and the attorney for the plaintiff has a contingency fee agreement with 
the plaintiff, the court shall order such attorney to pay a portion of 
the fees awarded under subsection (a). Such payment shall equal the 
amount of the total fees awarded to the prevailing defendant under 
subsection (a) multiplied by the contingency fee percentage under such 
agreement.
    ``(e) The provisions of this section shall preempt and supersede 
any other Federal law relating to attorney fees to the extent such law 
is inconsistent with this section.''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for 
chapter 123 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding after 
the item relating to section 1931 the following:

``1932. Award of attorney fees to prevailing defendant.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The provisions of this Act and amendments made 
by this Act shall be effective on and after the date of the enactment 
of this Act and shall apply only to civil actions filed on and after 
such date.

                                 <all>
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