Opinion ID: 434899
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Absence of Fee Awards in Analogous Habeas Actions

Text: 29 The Act provides that fees may be awarded against the United States to the same extent that any other party would be liable under the common law or under the terms of any statute which specifically provides for such an award. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2412(b) (1982). See Premachandra v. Mitts, 727 F.2d 717, 726 (8th Cir.1984) (fees may be awarded if the United States was engaged in conduct that, if carried on by some 'other party,' would render that 'other party' liable under a statutory fee shifting provision); Lauritzen v. Secretary of the Navy, 546 F.Supp. 1221, 1229 (C.D.Cal.1982) (fees may be awarded if action is fundamentally analogous to an action in which some other party, either public or private, would be liable under existing fee-shifting statutes). A habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 challenging state custody would be analogous to Boudin's action. Attorney's fees thus could be awarded to Boudin if they could be awarded in the fundamentally analogous state custody habeas action. 30 But there is no authority for taxing attorney's fees against states in the analogous state custody habeas action. A congressional statute is required in order to award attorney's fees in federal court actions when, as is the case here, no common law exceptions apply. See Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 257-62, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 1621-24, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975). Congress has never passed a statute authorizing the award of attorney's fees in state custody habeas corpus cases litigated in the federal courts. Rutledge v. Sunderland, 671 F.2d 377, 382 (10th Cir.1982); see Larsen v. Sielaff, 702 F.2d 116, 118 (7th Cir.1983) (attorney's fees may not be awarded in habeas actions; 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988 (Supp. IV 1980), which authorizes attorney fee awards in federal civil rights actions, is inapplicable to habeas proceedings), cert. denied, --- U.S. ---, 104 S.Ct. 372, 78 L.Ed.2d 330 (1983). Because there is also no common law provision authorizing fee awards in the analogous state habeas action, the EAJA does not authorize an award of fees against the United States in habeas actions litigating the propriety of federal custody. 31