ELR Citation: ELR 20069
No(s). 07-1061 (10th Cir. Mar 18, 2008)

The Tenth Circuit reversed a lower court's grant of attorneys fees in favor of an environmental group under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) despite its obtaining a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Forest Service halting an imminent timber sale in the Black Hills National Forest. A preliminary injunction that does not provide a plaintiff with relief on the merits of their claim cannot serve as the basis for prevailing party status. Here, the preliminary injunction required the Forest Service to refrain from going forward with the imminent sale, but it did not prevent the Forest Service from continuing to meet and plan in regards to the project. Nor did the preliminary injunction grant the relief that the group sought—a determination that the project was issued in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Forest Management Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. Hence, the group was not a "prevailing party" under the EAJA, and the lower court's award of attorney fees must be reversed.