The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in AAGESON GRAIN v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, No. 05-36172, an appeal in a civil action against the United States. The panel consisted of William C. Canby, Jr., Cynthia Holcomb Hall, and Consuelo M. Callahan, Circuit Judges.

CALLAHAN, Circuit Judge:
The United States Department of Agriculture (”USDA”) appeals the district court’s order remanding this case to the National Appeals Division (”NAD”) of the USDA to determine eligibility for an attorney’s fees and costs award under the Equal Access to Justice Act (”EAJA”). The farmers prevailed in their appeals before the NAD challenging their local Farm Service Agency’s (”FSA”) denials of claims under the 2003 Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (”NAP”). They then applied for attorney’s fees under the EAJA, which the NAD denied on the ground that the EAJA is inapplicable to NAD proceedings. The farmers filed a petition for judicial review, and the district court ruled that the EAJA applies to NAD proceedings and remanded. . . .

This entry was posted on Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 10:00 am and is filed under Civil against the United States. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.