FILED

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

AUGUST 19, 2009

THOMAS K. KAHN

CLERK

 [PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

 

No. 08-14334

 

D. C. Docket No. 06-01102-CV-IPJ

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

versus

CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY,

Located at 317 Nick Fitchard Road,

N.W., Huntsville, AL, together with all

improvements, fixtures, and appurtenances thereon,

ALL FUNDS ON DEPOSIT IN ACCOUNT

NUMBER 8011402644 Held in the name of

Axion Corporation, located at Colonial

Bank, P.O. Box 1887, Birmingham, AL 35201,

ALL FUNDS ON DEPOSIT IN ACCOUNT

NUMBER 8036513417 Held in the name of

Axion Corporation, located at Colonial Bank,

P.O. Box 1887, Birmingham, AL 35201,

Defendants-Appellees.
________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Alabama

________________________

(August 19, 2009)

Before DUBINA, Chief Judge, EDMONDSON and HILL, Circuit Judges. 

DUBINA, Chief Judge:

The government appeals from a final order of the district court awarding

attorney fees in a civil forfeiture action. This case requires that we determine, as a

matter of first impression, whether attorney fees incurred in the defense of a

criminal action may be awarded in a related civil forfeiture action under the Civil

Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (“CAFRA”) § 4(a), 28 U.S.C. § 2465(b)(1)

(2006), without regard for the stringent limitations on attorney-fee awards in

criminal cases under the Hyde Amendment, Act of Nov. 26, 1997, Pub. L. No.

105-119, tit. VI, § 617, 111 Stat. 2440, 2519 (1997), reprinted in 18 U.S.C. §

3006A (2006), historical and statutory notes [hereinafter Hyde Amendment]. 

I. BACKGROUND

In August 2003, Axion Corporation (“Axion”) secured a $3.7 million

contract with the United States Army to supply parts for a Black Hawk helicopter. 

2
In June 2006, the government filed a civil in rem forfeiture complaint in the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama pursuant to 18

U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(A) (2006) against two of Axion’s bank accounts and the parcel

of real property where the company is located on the basis that Axion had violated

the terms of the contract, as well as several federal laws. There are three claimants

to the defendant properties: Axion; its president, Alex Nooredin Latifi (“Latifi”);

and Latifi’s wife, Beth Latifi (collectively, “the claimants”). The government filed

a motion before Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins to stay the civil forfeiture

proceeding pursuant to CAFRA § 8(a), 18 U.S.C. § 981(g)(1), which directs the

district court to “stay the civil forfeiture proceeding if the court determines that

civil discovery will adversely affect the ability of the Government to conduct a

related criminal investigation or the prosecution of a related criminal case.”1

Judge Hopkins granted the motion to stay the civil forfeiture action. 

In March 2007, the government filed an indictment against Axion and Latifi

in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. The

 “[T]he terms ‘related criminal case’ and ‘related criminal investigation’ mean an actual

1

prosecution or investigation in progress at the time at which the request for the stay, or any

subsequent motion to lift the stay is made. In determining whether a criminal case or

investigation is ‘related’ to a civil forfeiture proceeding, the court . . . consider[s] the degree of

similarity between the parties, witnesses, facts, and circumstances involved in the two

proceedings, without requiring an identity with respect to any one or more factors.” 18 U.S.C. §

981(g)(4). 

3
criminal case was assigned to Judge Inge Prytz Johnson. A superseding

indictment charged Latifi and Axion with two counts of exporting without the

required license defense articles or defense services designated by the President

for inclusion in the United States Munitions List, in violation of the Arms Export

Control Act, 22 U.S.C. § 2778(b)(2), (c) (Counts 1 and 6); making a false

representation concerning an aircraft part, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 38(a)(1)(C)

(Count 2); and making false statements, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (Count

3). The indictment also included two criminal forfeiture counts (Counts 4 and 5).2

Judge Johnson held a seven-day bench trial that resulted in an acquittal on all

counts. 

After the criminal charges against Latifi and Axion were dismissed, the civil

case was transferred to Judge Johnson. The government filed a motion to dismiss

the civil forfeiture case with prejudice, which also contained a request for a

certificate of reasonable cause under 28 U.S.C. § 2465(a) (2006). In their

response, the claimants agreed that the case should be dismissed with prejudice

 The indictment specifically alleged that Latifi and Axion, who had been awarded a 2

contract by the U.S. Army to produce bifilar weight assemblies for Black Hawk helicopters,

knowingly and willfully exported to China technical drawings of the bifilar weight assembly for

the UH 60 Black Hawk without first obtaining a license and authorization from the State

Department’s Directorate of Trade Controls. In addition, Latifi and Axion allegedly fraudulently

misrepresented to the U.S. Army the source of a part used in the production of the bifilar weight

assembly and made false statements in test reports submitted to the U.S. Army regarding a

separate product that was the subject of a separate contract. 

4
and asserted that such a dismissal entitled them to attorney fees under CAFRA. 

The claimants also objected to the government’s request for a certificate of

reasonable cause. The government then filed a motion for leave to withdraw its

motion to dismiss with prejudice. Judge Johnson granted the motion to withdraw

and set a hearing on the motion for a certificate of reasonable cause. The

government filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice, stating that it no longer

intended to pursue the civil forfeiture case. The claimants again asserted that the

case should be dismissed with prejudice. The government then filed a notice with

the court stating that the government was withdrawing its request for a certificate

of reasonable cause. On April 2, 2008, the district court dismissed the case with

prejudice and concluded that the claimants were “entitled to recover reasonable

attorneys’ fees and costs along with interest pursuant to the provisions of

CAFRA.” (Or., R. 72 at 8.)

On May 29, 2008, the district court opined that, pursuant to CAFRA, the

claimants are entitled to recover both fees incurred in defending the civil forfeiture

action and fees incurred in defending the criminal case and ordered the payment of

such fees and interest. United States v. Certain Real Prop., 566 F. Supp. 2d 1252,

1261–62 (N.D. Ala. 2008). Citing Webb v. Board of Education of Dyer County,

Tennessee, 471 U.S. 234, 105 S. Ct. 1923 (1985), the district court found that the

5
attorney fees incurred in the criminal case, a “related proceeding,” are recoverable

in the civil forfeiture action because the work was “‘useful and of a type ordinarily

necessary to secure the final result obtained from the litigation.’” Id. at 1261

(quoting Webb, 471 U.S. at 243, 105 S. Ct. at 1928). The court first found that the

criminal case work was useful, saying:

[T]he work done by the claimants’ attorneys in the criminal case was clearly

useful as it directly resulted in the dismissal of the civil forfeiture case. In

fact, the claimants were required to litigate the civil forfeiture case through

the criminal case because of the stay imposed on the civil forfeiture case. If

Latifi and Axion had been convicted in the criminal case, then the property

would have been immediately subject to forfeiture. If the defendants were

acquitted, as they were, then that result would not have had res judicata

effect on this civil forfeiture case. . . . [T]he government had no intention of

pursuing the civil forfeiture case after Latifi and Axion were acquitted. 

Thus, the acquittal in the criminal case directly led to the dismissal of the

civil forfeiture case. Indeed, the only way for the claimants to obtain a

dismissal of the civil forfeiture case was by obtaining an acquittal in the

criminal case. 

Id. (citations omitted). The court then concluded that “[t]he work was . . . of a

type ordinarily necessary to secure the final result obtained from the litigation

since the civil proceeding was stayed pursuant to CAFRA and . . . the only way for

the claimants to succeed was to gain an acquittal in the criminal trial.” Id. The

court acknowledged that “[a]warding the claimants fees for work done in the

criminal case clearly allows the claimants to avoid the stricter requirements for

6
recovering attorneys’ fees under the Hyde Amendment,” id., which requires

claimants recovering such fees in a criminal case to prove “that the position of the

United States was vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith.” Hyde Amendment. The

district court added that “if [it] were to find that fees incurred defending the

criminal case were not recoverable under CAFRA, then the government would be

allowed to avoid CAFRA, as it has tried to do in this case, by moving for a stay in

the civil case and prosecuting the criminal case.” 566 F. Supp. 2d at 1261. 

The district court’s total attorney-fee award before deductions was 3

$414,198.50; the district court attributed $292,929.50 of this award to 1327.7

hours of work on the criminal case. Id. at 1262. The ultimate award minus 4

deductions was $363,956.92. The government then perfected this appeal.

5

 The district court concluded that certain deductions were warranted for things such as 3

secretarial work and unbilled hours. These deductions are not a subject of this appeal.

 The government suggests in its briefing that the district court should have attributed 4

certain fees to the defense of the criminal action, and not to the defense of the civil action, but

does not appeal the district court’s findings of fact. See Br. of Appellant 12 n.3; Reply Br. of

Appellant 2 (“We do not here challenge the district court’s calculation of the number of hours

reasonably expended by the defense in the civil forfeiture proceeding or in the criminal

prosecution . . . .”). Because we are not called upon to review the district court’s findings of

fact, we do not opine on them here. Recalculation of the fees due to claimants upon remand is

left to the discretion of the district court.

 The district court’s initial award was for $363,259.92. 566 F. Supp. 2d at 1334. This 5

amount was increased by the district court on June 5, 2008, to $363,956.92, based on additional

evidence filed by the claimants. (Or., R. 78 at 1–2.) 

7
On appeal, the government urges, inter alia, that CAFRA’s plain language

limits the award of attorney fees under §4(a), 28 U.S.C. § 2465(b)(1) to those fees

incurred for work done explicitly for the civil forfeiture proceeding. The 6

claimants counter, in accord with the district court, that the Supreme Court has

decided in other contexts that similarly-worded fee-shifting statutes encompass the

award of fees incurred outside of the statutorily-named litigation and that this

precedent allows them to recover under CAFRA fees incurred in the defense of a

related criminal case.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

“‘The proper standard for an award of attorney’s fees is a question of law

that we review de novo.’” Morillo-Cedron v. Dist. Dir. for the U.S. Citizenship &

Immigration Servs., 452 F.3d 1254, 1256 (11th Cir. 2006) (quoting Smalbein v.

City of Daytona Beach, 353 F.3d 901, 904 (11th Cir. 2003)).

III. DISCUSSION

After thorough review of the record, we conclude that the contours of

Congress’s waiver of the United States government’s sovereign immunity in the

 The government also argues that even if such fees can be awarded under CAFRA, the 6

requirements for an attorney-fee award under the Hyde Amendment must be satisfied so as not to

provide a means around the strictures of the Hyde Amendment. Because we conclude that the

fees incurred in defense of the criminal action cannot be recovered under CAFRA, we do not

address this contention.

8
CAFRA fee-shifting provision can be determined by looking to the plain language

and structure of CAFRA. We hold that attorney fees incurred in the defense of a

criminal action, even if related to a civil forfeiture action as in the present case,

cannot be awarded under CAFRA. This holding is supported by CAFRA’s

legislative history, and we find the Supreme Court cases cited by the district court

inapplicable in this context. 

A.

To determine whether attorney fees for work done in a criminal prosecution

may be awarded in a related civil forfeiture action under CAFRA § 4(a), 28 U.S.C.

§ 2465(b)(1), we turn first to the text of the statute to discern congressional intent. 

CAFRA’s fee-shifting provision provides in pertinent part:

[I]n any civil proceeding to forfeit property under any provision of

Federal law in which the claimant substantially prevails, the United States

shall be liable for –

(A) reasonable attorney fees and other litigation costs reasonably

incurred by the claimant; [and]

(B) post-judgment interest, as set forth in Section 1961 of this title.

CAFRA § 4(a), 28 U.S.C. § 2465(b)(1). 

Our interpretation of the CAFRA fee-shifting provision is guided by

principles of sovereign immunity, which bar the award of attorney fees against the

United States absent explicit congressional authorization. See Ruckelshaus v.

9
Sierra Club, 463 U.S. 680, 685 & n.7, 103 S. Ct. 3274, 3277–78 & n.7 (1983); see

also Ardestani v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 904 F.2d 1505, 1509 (11th Cir. 1990) (“A

court may not grant attorneys’ fees and costs against the United States in the

absence of a congressional or constitutional waiver of sovereign immunity which

grants it the authority to do so.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). A waiver of

the United States government’s sovereign immunity must be “unequivocal,” Dep’t

of Energy v. Ohio, 503 U.S. 607, 615, 112 S. Ct. 1627, 1633 (1992), superseded

by statute, Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992, Pub. L. No. 102-386, § 102,

106 Stat. 1505, and the provision “must be construed strictly in favor of the

sovereign . . . and not enlarged beyond what the language requires,” Ruckelshaus,

463 U.S. at 685–86, 103 S. Ct. at 3278 (internal quotation marks and citations

omitted); see also Ardestani, 904 F.2d at 1509 (stating that a statute that “waives

sovereign immunity in allowing attorney fees against the United States . . . must be

construed strictly”).

On its face, the language of CAFRA’s fee-shifting provision appears to

contemplate only the award of attorney fees incurred in the civil forfeiture action. 

See CAFRA § 4(a), 28 U.S.C. § 2465(b)(1) (“[I]n any civil proceeding to forfeit

property . . . .”). Without an express waiver of the government’s sovereign

immunity, we cannot find that such a waiver exists. To justify its award of the

10
fees incurred in defending Axion and Latifi’s criminal case, the district court

characterized the civil forfeiture action as having been litigated “through the

criminal case because of the stay imposed on the civil forfeiture case.” 566 F.

Supp. 2d at 1261. The district court’s characterization states precisely why we

cannot find that the attorney fees incurred in defending the criminal case are

recoverable in the civil forfeiture action under the auspices of CAFRA: the fees

were incurred in the defense of a criminal action, not a civil forfeiture action or

proceeding in support of a civil forfeiture action. 

Our reading of the fee-shifting provision is supported by CAFRA’s

structure. When Congress fashioned CAFRA’s fee-shifting provision in 2000, it

simultaneously expanded the government’s ability to seek a stay of the civil

forfeiture proceeding in light of an ongoing criminal investigation or

prosecution—precisely the mechanism used by the government in this case. See

CAFRA § 8(a). Congress effectively gave the government the ability to choose

which to pursue first—a civil forfeiture action, a related criminal investigation, or

the prosecution of a related criminal case—as long as “the [district] court

determines that civil discovery will adversely affect the ability of the Government

to conduct a related criminal investigation or the prosecution of a related criminal

case.” See CAFRA § 8(a), 18 U.S.C. § 981(g)(1). 

11
Congress provided property claimants the protections it thought appropriate

while retaining the usefulness of civil forfeitures in law enforcement activities. 

Cf. Ramirez v. United States, 57 Fed. Cl. 240, 250–51 (Fed. Cl. 2003) (noting

Congress’s intent that CAFRA “leave the underlying forfeiture authority of federal

agencies substantially unaffected”). First, the Act provides that in lieu of staying

the civil forfeiture action, the district court can issue a protective order limiting

discovery. CAFRA § 8(a), 18 U.S.C. § 981(g)(3). Second, if the district court

determines that a stay is necessary to protect the government’s related criminal

investigation or case, § 981(g)(6) directs the court to “enter any order necessary to

preserve the value of the property or to protect the rights of lienholders or other

persons with an interest in the property while the stay is in effect.” The express

7

terms of CAFRA’s fee-shifting provision do not go further and expressly allow the

award of fees incurred in defense of a related criminal case in the civil forfeiture

action if the claimants are acquitted of the criminal charges. We cannot waive the

government’s sovereign immunity and attempt to fashion such an additional

 We also note that the stay of a civil forfeiture action where there is a related criminal 7

action often can serve to benefit criminal defendants who are claimants to the property that is the

subject of the civil forfeiture action; the stay in the civil case prevents the government from using

civil discovery as a means to obtain information to flesh out the criminal case against the

claimants. See Afro-Lecon, Inc. v. United States, 820 F.2d 1198, 1203 (Fed. Cir. 1987) (“The

broad scope of civil discovery may present to both the prosecution, and at times the criminal

defendant, an irresistible temptation to use that discovery to one’s advantage in the criminal

case.”); see also United States v. A Certain Parcel of Land, 781 F. Supp. 830, 834–35 (D. N.H.

1992) (granting a stay of discovery in a civil forfeiture action to protect a criminal defendant’s

Fifth Amendment rights). 

12
protection where Congress has not chosen to do so. See Wright v. Sec’y for Dep’t

of Corr., 278 F.3d 1245, 1255 (11th Cir. 2002) (“[C]ourts ought not add to what

the legislature has said is the law. . . . Our function is to apply statutes, to carry out

the expression of the legislative will that is embodied in them, not to ‘improve’

statutes by altering them.”); Harris v. Garner, 216 F.3d 970, 976 (11th Cir. 2000)

(en banc) (“We will not do to the statutory language what Congress did not do

with it, because the role of the judicial branch is to apply statutory language, not to

rewrite it.”); see also Ewing & Thomas, P.A. v. Heye, 803 F.2d 613, 616 (11th Cir.

1986), superseded by statute, Act of July 30, 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-168, Title VII,

secs. 701(a)–(c), 702(a), 703(a), 704(a), 110 Stat. 1463, 1464 (“An amendment to

a statute is clearly a legislative, not a judicial function. We cannot now do what

Congress may have wanted to accomplish but has left undone.”).

The language of the seizure and stay provisions in § 981 also demonstrates

that Congress was fully cognizant that work done in defense of a criminal case

may be used to defend against a civil forfeiture. For example, in order to

determine “whether a criminal case or investigation is ‘related’ to a civil forfeiture

proceeding” so as to warrant a stay, Congress instructed the district court to

“consider the degree of similarity between the parties, witnesses, facts, and

circumstances involved in the two proceedings.” See 18 U.S.C. § 981(g)(4). In

13
addition, one justification for granting a claimant’s request for a stay of the civil

forfeiture action is that discovery in the civil case may uncover information useful

in the criminal prosecution. See 18 U.S.C. § 981(g)(1)–(3). Despite Congress’s

acknowledgment of the interconnectedness of civil forfeiture and criminal

proceedings, Congress’s waiver of sovereign immunity in the CAFRA fee-shifting

provision does not expressly state that claimants in civil forfeiture proceedings can

obtain in the civil proceeding those fees they incur as criminal defendants in a

related criminal case. 

The claimants urge that “CAFRA would be rendered meaningless if the

government could always evade liability by litigating in the criminal forum.” (Br.

of Appellee 30.) Likewise, the district court said that if it “were to find that fees

incurred defending the criminal case were not recoverable under CAFRA, then the

government would be allowed to avoid CAFRA.” 566 F. Supp. 2d at 1261. These

arguments ignore two important points. First, claimants in civil forfeiture actions

do not always face criminal charges; Beth Latifi is a prime example. Second, by

designing the civil forfeiture action stay provision as it did, Congress expressly

authorized the “strategy,” see Br. of Appellee 31, used by the government in this

case. 

14
Viewing the statutory scheme in its entirety, we cannot conclude that in

addition to the protections expressly laid out in statute, Congress implicitly

provided that the fees incurred in defense of a related criminal case can be

recouped in the civil case. As we have repeatedly said, it is not the courts’ place

to fashion additional protections, and, in this instance, the sovereign immunity of

the United States precludes us from doing so.

Our holding also is consistent with the concerns expressed by Congress in

CAFRA’s legislative history. As explained by the district court, “the stated

purpose of CAFRA is ‘to make federal civil forfeiture procedures fair to property

owners and to give owners innocent of any wrongdoing the means to recover their

property and make themselves whole after wrongful government seizures.’” 566

F. Supp. 2d at 1260 (quoting H.R. Rep. No. 106-192, at 11 (1999)). The U.S.

House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary expressed concern that

“many civil seizures are not challenged” due to the costs involved in challenging

them. H.R. Rep. No. 106-192, at 14 (1999). Similarly, the Committee expressed

concern “with the arduous path one must journey [in a civil forfeiture action]

against a presumption of guilt, often without the benefit of counsel, and perhaps

without any money left after the seizure with which to fight the battle.” Id.

(internal quotation marks and citations omitted). We have not found anything in

15
the legislative history, however, that indicates Congress was troubled by the fact

that civil forfeiture action claimants who are criminal defendants in related cases

bear the costs of their criminal defenses under the traditional American Rule. As 8

we note below, where Congress had such concerns, it addressed them with the

Hyde Amendment. In describing the ills of the former civil forfeiture action

system, the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary’s report on

CAFRA, then H.R. 1658, described two instances where property owners incurred

great expense in trying to regain their properties after civil forfeitures. See H.R.

Rep. No. 106-192, at 8, 10. In both of the examples provided, the claimants were

not prosecuted for crimes associated with the civil forfeiture. See id. at 8–9

(describing a case where criminal charges “were quickly dropped for lack of

evidence, [but] the government refused to release [the property]” and the claimant

ultimately was forced to declare bankruptcy as a result of the seizure); id. at 10–11

(describing a case in which no criminal charges were filed, but a motel was seized

for “tacit approval of illegality” and the owners “were forced to spend substantial

amounts of time and money on hiring an attorney and defending against the

 “Under the American Rule, United States courts follow a general practice of not 8

awarding fees to a prevailing party in a suit.” Smalbein v. City of Daytona Beach, 353 F.3d 901,

904 (11th Cir. 2003) (internal quotation marks omitted); accord United States v. Aetna Ins. Co.,

831 F.2d 978, 983 (11th Cir. 1987) (stating that under the American Rule “[p]arties must pay

their own ways as far as legal costs”). “[T]he default assumption is that each party is responsible

for its own legal fees, and thus fees ordinarily will not be awarded to the prevailing party without

express statutory authority.” Johnson v. Florida, 348 F.3d 1334, 1350 (11th Cir. 2003).

16
government’s forfeiture action” (internal quotation marks omitted)). The

descriptions of these cases imply that had these claimants been the subject of

legitimate ongoing criminal investigations and prosecutions, Congress would not

have had similar concerns. 

The CAFRA fee-shifting provision was designed to make claimants whole

for their efforts to recover their property in a civil forfeiture action. The purpose

of defending a criminal prosecution is not to recover property, but to defend the

accused’s freedom. Where the criminal prosecution is “brought vexatiously, in

bad faith, or so utterly without foundation in law or fact as to be frivolous,” the

Hyde Amendment provides the means of recovery. United States v. Gilbert, 198

F.3d 1293, 1299 (11th Cir. 1999). Otherwise, unless the defendant is indigent, he

bears the cost of his own defense. We find nothing in the legislative history of

CAFRA to counter this interpretation. 

B.

The district court based its award of attorney fees for Axion and Latifi’s

criminal case work on two Supreme Court cases where the Court determined that 9

 In its categorization of attorney fees as either having been incurred in relation to Axion

9

and Latifi’s criminal defense or the civil forfeiture action, the district court assigned to the

criminal case fees incurred in defending U.S. Army administrative proceedings concerning

suspension or debarment of Axion as a defense contractor ($1,522) and in preparation for

potential False-Claims-Act proceedings ($51), concluding that the government may have

introduced those issues as other-act evidence. We do not disturb that finding.

17
similarly-worded fee-shifting statutes allowed for the award of attorney fees

incurred outside of the actual litigation: Webb v. County Board of Education of

Dyer County, Tennessee, 471 U.S. 234, 105 S. Ct. 1923 (1985), and Pennsylvania

v. Delaware Valley Citizens’ Council for Clean Air (Delaware Valley I), 478 U.S.

546, 106 S. Ct. 3088 (1986). 566 F. Supp. 2d at 1260–62. We find these cases

distinguishable.

The district court drew primarily upon Webb, where the Supreme Court

concluded that attorney fees for work done in optional state administrative

proceedings may be awarded to a prevailing civil rights litigant under 42 U.S.C. §

1988 to the extent that a “discrete portion” of the work was “useful and of a type

ordinarily necessary” to the successful outcome of the subsequent litigation. 

Webb, 471 U.S. at 241, 243, 105 S. Ct. at 1928–29. At the time of the Webb

decision, the § 1988 fee-shifting provision read in pertinent part:

In any action or proceeding to enforce a provision of §§ 1981, 1982, 1983,

1985 and 1986 of this title, title IX of Public Law 92-318, or title VI of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964, the court, in its discretion, may allow the

prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney’s fee as

part of the costs.

See id. at 236 n.1, 105 S. Ct. at 1925 n.1. After successful settlement of a civil

rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against a school board, a tenured black

elementary school teacher filed in the district court a motion for an award of

18
attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Id. at 237–38, 105 S. Ct. at 1925–26. The

school board had dismissed him and upheld the dismissal in a series of

administrative proceedings. Id. at 237, 105 S. Ct. at 1925. The district court

denied those fees incurred by the teacher in defense of the school administrative

proceedings, but awarded fees for work done on the federal court litigation. Id. at

239, 105 S. Ct. at 1926. The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling. Id.

The Supreme Court also affirmed, stating that the plaintiff had not established that

“any discrete portion of the work product from the administrative proceedings was

work that was both useful and of a type ordinarily necessary to advance the civil

rights litigation to the stage it reached before settlement.” Id. at 243, 105 S. Ct.

1928–29. Although the Court affirmed the denial of the fees incurred in defense

of the administrative proceedings in toto, it indicated that attorney fees for time

spent pursuing optional administrative proceedings may be included in the

calculation of a reasonable attorney fee awarded under § 1988 if the work is

specifically identified and is “useful and of a type ordinarily necessary” to secure

the final result obtained from the litigation. Id. 

10

 The Court indicated that it could address only the question presented to the district 10

court: “whether the time spent on the administrative work . . . should be included [in the attorney

fees award] in its entirety or excluded in its entirety.” Id. at 243, 105 S. Ct. at 1929. 

19
The district court also cited Delaware Valley I, where the Court applied

Webb and held that work done to monitor and enforce implementation of a consent

decree entered into by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (including

participation in regulatory proceedings and review of proposed regulations)

constituted compensable attorney fees under the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7401. 

Delaware Valley I, 478 U.S. at 561, 106 S. Ct. at 3096. The Clean Air Act feeshifting provision read as follows:

The court, in issuing any final order in any action brought pursuant to

subsection (a) of this section, may award costs of litigation (including

reasonable attorney and expert witness fees) to any party, whenever the

court determines such award is appropriate.

See id. at 557, 106 S. Ct. at 3094. In Delaware Valley I, private citizens filed suit

against the Commonwealth to compel implementation of a vehicle emission

inspection and maintenance program required by the Clean Air Act. Id. at 549,

106 S. Ct. at 3090. To aid in enforcement of the resultant consent decree,

attorneys for the citizens’ council commented on the state transportation

department’s regulations and participated in Environmental Protection Agency

hearings. Id. at 550, 552–53, 106 S. Ct. at 3090, 3092. The district court awarded

fees for these activities under the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7401. Id. at 553, 106

S. Ct. at 3092. The Third Circuit affirmed. Id. at 556, 106 S. Ct. at 3093. The

Supreme Court also affirmed, concluding that although the work did not “occur in

20
the context of traditional judicial litigation,” it was compensable because it was

“useful” and “necessary” in that it helped to protect the relief awarded under the

consent decree and thus was crucial to the vindication of the party’s rights. Id. at

560–61, 106 S. Ct. at 3096.

As we stated earlier, Webb and Delaware Valley I are distinguishable from

the present case. First, in both Webb and Delaware Valley I, the issue was the

award of attorney fees for work done with regard to non-judicial activities under

the authority of statutory fee-shifting provisions relevant to particular judicial

actions or proceedings. For example, in Webb, the Court considered the

applicability of the § 1988 fee-shifting statute designed for § 1983 civil rights

cases to voluntarily-pursued school board administrative proceedings. Webb, 471

U.S. at 239, 105 S. Ct. at 1926. In Delaware Valley I, the Court affirmed the

applicability of the Clean Air Act’s fee-shifting statute to post-litigation activities

before a regulatory body and in administrative hearings. Delaware Valley I, 478

U.S. at 561, 106 S. Ct. at 3096. In both instances the Supreme Court indicated that

attorney fees may be awarded for these extra-judicial activities where they are

sufficiently connected to a single court action that is subject to the relevant

statutory fee-shifting provision. In contrast, the district court in this case awarded

attorney fees incurred in defending a separate judicial proceeding. Fees incurred

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for Axion and Latifi’s criminal defense are not like the fees incurred in Webb and

Delaware Valley I for extra-judicial activities in support of litigation that itself

was subject to the relevant fee-shifting provision. Cf. Greer v. Holt, 718 F.2d 206,

208 (6th Cir. 1983) (explaining that the award of attorney fees for work in an

administrative proceeding in support of a civil action subject to a fee-shifting

statute is different from the award of fees incurred in defense of a criminal

proceeding that—even though it is based on the same operative facts—is separate

from a civil proceeding subject to a fee-shifting statute). 

Second, awarding the attorney fees for optional administrative proceedings

and post-litigation activities in Webb and Delaware Valley I was in furtherance of

the purposes of the fee-shifting statutes at issue in those cases. The Court

explained in Delaware Valley I that the fee-shifting provisions at issue in

Delaware Valley I and Webb were enacted to ensure effective enforcement of

certain important federal interests through citizen suits. Delaware Valley I, 478

U.S. at 559–60, 106 S. Ct. at 3095. “[T]he common purpose of both § 304(d) and

§ 1988 to promote citizen enforcement of important federal policies,” id. at 560,

106 S. Ct. at 3096, required the award of attorney fees for these extra-litigation

activities. For example, with regard to civil rights claims, the Court noted that

“Congress found that many legitimate claims would not be redressed” “unless

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reasonable attorney’s fees could be awarded.” Id. at 560, 106 S. Ct. at 3095. 

There is no comparable concern here, where the criminal defendants Axion and

Latifi were sufficiently motivated by the criminal charges to avidly pursue their

criminal defense. Cf. Kahane v. UNUM Life Ins. Comp. of Am., 563 F.3d 1210,

1215 (11th Cir. 2009) (affirming denial of attorney fees for work done in ERISA

pre-litigation administrative proceedings where injecting attorneys into those

proceedings “could severely undermine the congressional purpose” (internal

quotation marks omitted)). The present case is akin to Greer v. Holt, 718 F.2d 206

(6th Cir. 1983). In an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Greer asserted that

police officers assaulted and beat him while he was in their custody. Greer, 718

F.2d at 207. Prior to filing that federal claim, Greer was prosecuted in state court

for assault and battery of the police officers arising from the same circumstances. 

Id. Greer was acquitted of the criminal charges, which was necessary for his

success in his § 1983 action, and he thereafter prevailed in his civil rights suit. Id.

The Sixth Circuit upheld the denial of attorney fees in the federal civil case under

§ 1988 for work done in the criminal prosecution because, “[s]trategically, the

attorneys for Greer had little choice but to pursue a full defense to the criminal

charges.” Id. at 208. 

C.

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While our reading of CAFRA § 4(a), 28 U.S.C. § 2465(b)(1) alone is

sufficient to warrant a reversal of the district court’s award of attorney fees for

work done in defense of a criminal prosecution, we add that the Hyde Amendment

also supports our conclusion. The claimants urge that the Hyde Amendment has

no place in our analysis of this case because the district court awarded the fees in

question in a civil forfeiture action to which the Hyde Amendment does not apply. 

We disagree. The district court awarded under CAFRA fees incurred in defense of

a criminal action, which are subject to the Hyde Amendment. 

The Hyde Amendment provides in pertinent part:

[T]he court, in any criminal case (other than a case in which the

defendant is represented by assigned counsel paid for by the public) .

. . may award to a prevailing party, other than the United States, a

reasonable attorney’s fee and other litigation expenses, where the

court finds that the position of the United States was vexatious,

frivolous, or in bad faith, unless the court finds that special

circumstances make such an award unjust. Such awards shall be

granted pursuant to the procedures and limitations (but not the burden

of proof) provided for an award under [the Equal Access to Justice

Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. §] 2412.

As the district court acknowledged, “any award in this case which includes fees

incurred in the criminal case would allow the claimants to recover those fees

without proving that the position of the United States was vexatious, frivolous, or

in bad faith.” 566 F. Supp. 2d at 1261 (internal quotation marks omitted). The

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district court’s acknowledged circumvention of the Hyde Amendment was

inappropriate. 

IV. CONCLUSION

The district court ruled that, in a civil forfeiture action, CAFRA permits

recovery of fees incurred in the defense of a related criminal proceeding where

that work was “useful” and of the type “ordinarily necessary” to the successful

outcome of the subsequent civil forfeiture action. Because we reject the district

court’s conclusion for the reasons stated above, we vacate the May 29, 2008 order

of the district court awarding the claimants attorney fees under CAFRA § 4(a), 28

U.S.C. § 2465(b)(1) and remand this case for recalculation of the fees and interest

due consistent with this opinion. 

11

VACATED and REMANDED.

We note that Axion and Latifi’s motion for attorney fees and costs pursuant to the Hyde 11

Amendment filed in the related criminal case on December 12, 2007, remains pending. The

district court stayed all further proceedings in the criminal case until this court issued the instant

decision. Upon remand of this case, the district court may want to consider Axion and Latifi’s

motion for attorney fees and costs in the related criminal proceeding.

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HILL, Circuit Judge, dissenting:

We are reviewing one case – the civil case for forfeiture. Nine months after

it was filed, the government brought criminal charges.

Asserting that civil discovery would adversely affect the government’s

position in the criminal case, the government moved for and was granted a stay of

the civil case. Discovery was frozen.

The lawyers retained to represent clients in the civil forfeiture case found

themselves faced with a criminal case that could be disastrous to their clients’

interests. Would it be work “useful” to their clients and work “of a type ordinarily

necessary” to competently represent them? Of course, it was not only useful. It

was necessary. See Webb v. Board of Educ. of Dyer County, Tenn., 471 U.S. 234,

243, 105 S.Ct. 1923, 1928 (1985).

Affidavits of experienced counsel stated under oath that “. . . it would be

impossible to defend this civil forfeiture action without defending and obtaining

an acquittal in the underlying criminal action.” There is no dispute. Counsel

representing the appellees in this civil action would have been inadequate to the

point of malpractice to have ignored the new criminal case.

Were counsel to monitor another case on trial in court in another

jurisdiction, noting the quality of evidence and impact of witnesses, that would be

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“useful.” It would be work “of a type ordinarily necessary” to competent

representation.

Fees incurred in that useful and necessary work were properly awarded. It

was there that the forfeiture action was defeated.

I would affirm.

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