[NRC Authority to Pay Attorney Fees]
Highlights
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requested a decision regarding its authority to pay court-awarded attorneys' fees and costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) to a plaintiff who successfully challenged an administrative decision. GAO held that: (1) EAJA did not preclude NRC from paying the award, since the plaintiff was not an intervenor; (2) a restriction added to the fiscal year (FY) 1988 appropriation act prohibited NRC from using 1988 funds to pay the award, but did not prohibit it from using previous FY appropriations for that purpose; and (3) NRC should subtract the total obligations it incurred since the FY 1987 appropriations act went into effect from the amount of the FY 1987 appropriation to determine the amount of funds it has to pay such court awards. Accordingly, NRC may use prior deobligated funds to pay court-awarded fees under EAJA.