Monday, March 30th, 2009...1:04 am
9th Cir: Sovereign Immunity and Attorney Fee Lien
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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has held that neither the Administrative Procedure Act nor the Equal Access to Justice Act waives the federal government’s sovereign immunity from assertion of an attorney lien for recovery of damages from a federal agency. An attorney successfully induced the government to award $150,000 to each of 350 to 400 former federal employees under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. He then asked the District Court to withhold fees from the pending payments under a common fund theory. The Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s finding of no waiver of immunity.
Harger v. Department of Labor, ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. Mar. 27, 2009)
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