Opinion ID: 215442
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: CAFRA Permits District Courts to Direct Fee Awards to Litigants or Their Attorneys

Text: The sum of the matter is that the statutory text of CAFRA doesn't expressly direct fees to the client or to the attorney, and the textual arguments advanced by the government don't mandate a particular result. In other words, CAFRA isn't directly analogous either to EAJA (directing fees to the client) or to SSA (directing fees to the lawyer). What EAJA and the SSA do show, as already noted, is that Congress is perfectly capable of making clear to whom the court is to order payment of fees, yet chose in CAFRA to use passive, neutral language. Compare 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) (EAJA) and 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1)(A) (SSA) with 28 U.S.C. § 2465(b)(1) (CAFRA). It did so even though fees were until then being awarded in forfeiture circumstances under EAJA, so there was a readily applicable model had Congress intended for fees to be universally paid to claimants. See, e.g., 22249 Dolorosa St., 190 F.3d at 981-82 (discussing application of EAJA in forfeiture action). This choice, it seems to me, is best implemented by permitting district courts to direct fees to either the claimant or the attorney, depending on the circumstances. District courts faced with such a determination might consider: (1) the particulars of the agreement between the attorney and the client; (2) the likelihood that the attorney would be adequately compensated if fees were paid to the client; and (3) whether payment to the client or to the attorney would best further the goals of CAFRA. That approach would allow district courts to avoid the windfall possibilities noted above. It would also correct an anomaly identified by the governmentnamely, many of the arguments in favor of awarding fees directly to the attorney assume that the attorney has not already been compensated by the client, but that often will not be the case, because some clients will pay a retainer or an hourly fee. Where the client has already paid the attorney an amount equivalent to the award, then the client likely has a superior claim to the fee award, and the district court can direct payment of the award accordingly. Likewise, if the client has paid the attorney, but less than the full amount of the award, the district court can order the payment of fees appropriately, some to the client and some to the attorney.