Firm Asks 9th Cir. to Revisit Labor Department Lawyer Fee Ruling

A Hawaii architectural firm that successfully defended its employee stock ownership plan from a US Labor Department lawsuit asked the Ninth Circuit to reconsider its recent opinion declining to assess attorneys’ fees against the government.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s October decision misapplied the standard for awarding fees under a federal law aimed at curbing abusive lawsuits involving the government, Bowers & Kubota Consulting Inc. said in a Dec. 8 petition for rehearing. The court incorrectly swapped the standard used by the Equal Access to Justice Act—which denies attorneys’ fees when the government’s litigation position ...