Opinion ID: 3069728
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Bad Faith Litigation

Text: In the alternative, Hornbeck suggests the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”) as a basis for the award of attorneys’ fees. See 28 U.S.C. § 2412(b), (d). Interior counters that this alternative is inadequately briefed. See Fed. R. App. P. 28(a)(9), (b). We agree. Hornbeck’s bare-bones briefing of this issue fails to explain how the substantive and procedural requirements for an award under the Act are satisfied. First, we have held that to impose that sanction the “court must make a specific finding that the sanctioned party acted in bad faith.” Matta v. May, 118 F.3d 410, 416 (5th Cir. 1997).4 The court refrained from reaching the issue of bad faith and Hornbeck has offered no argument as to why that fact is not dispositive. Second, the party wishing to recover under this Act must “within thirty days of a final disposition in the adversary adjudication, submit to the agency an application which shows that the party is a prevailing party and is eligible to receive an award.” Boland Marine & Mfg. Co. v. Rihner, 41 F.3d 997, 1006 (5th Cir. 1995). In Boland, we declined to resolve whether a party was 4 See generally Sanchez v. Rowe, 870 F.2d 291, 293 (5th Cir. 1989) (explaining that the EAJA authorizes attorneys’ fees when the Government runs afoul of the common-law rule prohibiting parties from acting “vexatiously, wantonly, or for oppressive reasons.”) (quotation and citation omitted). Further, the district court characterized Hornbeck’s claim as a “common-law claim of bad faith,” although its motion had invoked the statute. 13 Case: 11-30936 Document: 00512064896 Page: 14 Date Filed: 11/27/2012 No. 11-30936 entitled to attorneys’ fees without evidence in the record that these procedures had been met. Id. Hornbeck has not alleged it complied. Finally, without analysis, Hornbeck declares itself to be a prevailing party citing to Dearmore v. City of Garland, 519 F.3d 517, 521-24 (5th Cir. 2008). Dearmore announces a three-factor test for determining whether a plaintiff who receives a preliminary injunction is a prevailing party under a civil rights provision, 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b), when “the district court makes an unambiguous indication of probable success on the merits of his claim and the defendant subsequently moots the case before trial in direct response to the court’s preliminary injunction order.” Id. at 521, 524. Hornbeck has not engaged with any of those considerations. Importantly, it has not explained how it can escape from its decision to stipulate to dismiss the case or from the district court’s conclusion that the July Directive did not moot the case because the voluntarycessation exception applied. E.g., Pederson v. La. State Univ., 213 F.3d 858, 873 (5th Cir. 2000). This potential basis for maintaining the award is waived because it has not been meaningfully briefed. Nat’l Bus. Forms & Printing, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., 671 F.3d 526, 531 n.2 (5th Cir. 2012) (citing Fed. R. App. P. 28). The finding of contempt and the award of fees and costs are REVERSED. 14 Case: 11-30936 Document: 00512064896 Page: 15 Date Filed: 11/27/2012 No. 11-30936