The Role of Attorney Fee Shifting in Public Interest Litigation

Abstract

The most significant exception to the Rule that civil litigants bear their own attorney fees occurs in cases where a statute expressly authorizes a court award of attorney fees. More than 150 federal statutes now authorize attorney fee shifting2 and certain state statutes also authorize fee shifting.3 Most American fee shifting statutes permit fee awards to successful plaintiffs in order to encourage litigation deemed to be in the public interest.4 Among the most important federal fee shifting statutes are the Civil Rights Attorneys' Fees Awards Act of 19765 and the Equal Access to Justice Act6 which permit attorney fees awards to prevailing parties in broad classes of civil rights litigation and in litigation against the federal government.7 As court awards of attorney fees to plaintiffs in civil rights, environmental, and consumer cases became more frequent, proposals surfaced to place generic restrictions on attorney fees awards. The Reagan Administration and representatives of