Lane v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA et al

Filing 39

ORDER denying 32 Motion for Attorney Fees. Signed by Chief Judge J. Randal Hall on 10/7/2019. (pts)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
STATESBORO DIVISION

STEVE LANE,

*
■k

Plaintiff,

*
*

V.

*

CV

617-082

*

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
UNITED

STATES

DEPARTMENT

*
OF

*

AGRICULTURE, and SONNY
PERDUE, in his Official

*
*

Capacity as Secretary of the
United States Department
of Agriculture,

*
*
*

Defendants.

ORDER

Pending before the Court is Plaintiff Steve Lane's Motion for
Attorneys'

below,

Fees and Costs.

(Doc.

32) .

For the reasons set forth

Plaintiff's motion is DENIED as untimely.

Plaintiff filed his motion for attorneys' fees under the Equal
Access to Justice Act (^'EAJA") , 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) (1) (A), on April

19, 2019.
to

(Docs. 32, 37. )

submit

an

application

Section 2412(d) (1) (B)
for

fees

'"within

requires a party

thirty days

of

final

judgment in the action."

"This requirement is jurisdictional in

nature,

claimant's

.

.

.

thus,

a

failure

to

file

an

EAJA

application within this time constraint precludes a district court

from considering the merits of the fee application."
Sullivan,

916 F.2d 659,

666

(11th Cir.

1990)

See Myers v.

(citations omitted) .

Shalala

v. Schaefer lays out the framework for analyzing

whether an EAJA motion was timely filed.

509 U.S. 292, 302-03

(1993). First, "[a]n EAJA application may be filed until 30 days
after a judgment becomes ^not appealable' - i.e. 30 days after the

time for appeal has ended."

Id. at 302.

The time for appeal does

not end until sixty days after "entry of judgment" when a federal
officer is a party, as is the case here.

Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)).

Id.

(citing Federal

Therefore, the final day to

file a fee application in this case would be 90 days after entry

of judgment.
when

it

is

A judgment is considered entered under Rule 4(a)
entered

in

compliance

with

Federal

Rule

of

Civil

Procedure 58, which, in turn, "requires a district court to set
forth every judgment ^on a separate document.'"

Shalala, 509 U.S.

at 302.

Here, the Court entered its Order disposing of the Parties'
cross motions for summary judgment on September 6, 2018, and the
Clerk entered a separate Clerk's Judgment reflecting the Court's
Order a day later.

The judgment became final sixty days later,

starting Section 2412(d)(1)(B)'s thirty-day countdown, which ended
in January of 2019.

Plaintiff did not file the instant motion

until April of 2019, over 200 days after the entry of judgment.
Therefore, Plaintiff's motion is untimely and must be denied.

For

the

reasons

set

forth

above.

Plaintiff's

motion

for

attorney's fees (doc. 32) is hereby DENIED.
ORDER ENTERED at Augusta, Georgia this

day of October,

2019.

HALL

/

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
SOUTJIERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

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