Opinion ID: 187229
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Position substantially justified

Text: Under the EAJA, attorneys' fees may be awarded to the prevailing party in an action brought by a United States agency. 28 U.S.C. § 2412(a)(1). Fees and expenses are to be awarded to a prevailing party unless . . . the position of the [Government] was substantially justified. 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A). It is not sufficient to satisfy the statute that the government's position has not prevailed. The statutory structure assumes that the Government. . . could take a position that is substantially justified, yet lose. Pierce v. Underwood, 487 U.S. 552, 569, 108 S.Ct. 2541, 101 L.Ed.2d 490 (1988). Here, on Citation 1, Item 1, Instance (a); Citation 1, Item 1, Instance (b); and Citation 1, Item 5, the Secretary's position was affirmed, and consequently Fabi was not the prevailing party on those issues, and is not eligible for attorneys' fees in defense of them. Citation 1, Item 3, and Citation 1, Item 4, were withdrawn by the Secretary before trial. The Secretary concedes that she was not substantially justified in her position on those items, and therefore Fabi is eligible for attorneys' fees in defense of them. Remaining for resolution as to whether the Secretary was justified in her position are Citation 1, Item 1, Instance (c); Citation 1, Item 2; and Citation 2, Item 1. Citation 1, Item 1, Instance (c). In Citation 1, Item 1, Instance (c), the Secretary charged Fabi with a violation for not placing bottom steel, a type of reinforcing steel, in accordance with industry standards and with the structural and/or shop drawings. In the proceedings below the Administrative Law Judge concluded that the Secretary had failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that a violation had occurred. The ALJ vacated Instance (c) on the ground that evidence regarding industry recognition of the failure to include bottom steel was equivocal. . . [T]here was a dispute among the experts regarding whether the bottom bars depicted in the structural drawings would have added to the stability of the structure. The Secretary did not appeal the ALJ's decision on this issue. Because the Secretary's position, while unsuccessful, was supported by expert testimony, we conclude that it was substantially justified, and therefore Fabi is not eligible for attorneys' fees on this issue. Citation 1, Item 2. In Citation 1, Item 2, the Secretary charged Fabi with a violation for not having shoring plans available at the worksite for multiple levels (P3 to P8) of the structure. In the proceedings below, the ALJ vacated Citation 1, Item 2, holding that Fabi had shoring plans for level P2 onsite, and level P2 was sufficiently similar to levels P3 through P8 so that Fabi was not required to have shoring plans for the other levels onsite. The Secretary did not appeal the ALJ's decision on this issue. Because it appears that the record, as recounted by the ALJ, was ambiguous and the issue was not clear cut, we conclude that the Secretary's position was substantially justified, and therefore Fabi is not eligible for attorneys' fees on this issue. Citation 2, Item 1. In Citation 2, Item 1, the Secretary charged Fabi with a violation for making formwork (specifically the slabs below level P8) incapable of supporting the loads imposed by level P8. Fabi argued to the ALJ that the term formwork in the regulation at issue includes only temporary forms supporting newly poured concrete during construction. The ALJ concluded that the regulation governs permanent types of formwork. On appeal we vacated this item, agreeing with Fabi that the plain language of `formwork' in the context of the regulation cannot include permanent parts of structures like slabs. Fabi I, 508 F.3d at 1086. We therefore held that the permanent structures that were constructed improperly were not formwork under the regulation. We concluded that the Secretary's . . . interpretation of formwork. . . is beyond the bounds of reasonableness, id., and that the regulations at issue d[id] not give [Fabi] fair notice of the Secretary's interpretation. Id. at 1088. Furthermore, we vacated this citation under a highly deferential standard of review and concluded that OSHA had violated Fabi's right to due process. Id. We therefore conclude that the Secretary's position was not substantially justified, and Fabi is therefore eligible for a fee award on this item. In sum, the Secretary took eight positions: three in Citation 1, Item 1, and one each in Citation 1, Items 2 through 5, and Citation 2, Item 1. The Secretary was affirmed on three of those eight positions (Citation 1, Item 1, Instance (a); Citation 1, Item 1, Instance (b); and Citation 1, Item 5), and as noted above we find her position substantially justified on another two (Citation 1, Item 1, Instance (c), and Citation 1, Item 2). Fabi is therefore not eligible for an attorneys' fees award on these five issues. Of the remaining three positions, the Secretary has conceded that her position was not substantially justified on two (Citation 1, Item 3, and Citation 1, Item 4), and as noted above we have determined that her position on the third (Citation 2, Item 1) was not substantially justified. We will therefore award attorneys' fees to Fabi for defending against those citations. Our final task in calculating an award of attorneys' fees is to determine the amount of the award. Ideally, we would review the billing entries for work done on each citation and calculate the award accordingly. But the billing entries submitted are of very little help in that they rarely mention how much time has been spent on each issue. We will instead assume that an equal amount of time was spent in connection with each issue. See American Wrecking Corp. v. Secretary of Labor, 364 F.3d 321, 329 (D.C.Cir.2004). As noted above, Fabi is eligible for fees on three of the eight positions taken by the Secretary, and we will therefore multiply the last amount noted above, $484,410.86, by 3/8, resulting in an amount of $181,654.07. As the Secretary points out, however, allocating fees in this manner, i.e., dividing total fees expended by number of eligible items, gives Fabi the same compensation for the withdrawn items as it does for the item that was tried before the ALJ, raised before the full Commission, and then appealed to this court. In order to account for this discrepancy, we will reduce the award for the withdrawn items by 50 percent. To calculate this amount, we will first divide $181,654.07 by three, resulting in an amount of $60,551.36 for each of the three eligible items. We will then reduce that amount by 50 percent, resulting in an award of $30,275.68 for each of the two withdrawn items. The total award for attorneys' fees is therefore $30,275.68 (for Citation 1, Item 3) + $30,275.68 (for Citation 1, Item 4) + $60,551.36 (for Citation 2, Item 1), which sums to $121,102.72.