Ecological Rights Found. v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs (N.D. Cal.) -- on motion for attorney’s fees and costs, ruling that: (1) plaintiff was ineligible for an award against the National Marine Fisheries Service because the agency had issued determinations before the lawsuit was filed; rejecting plaintiff’s argument that NMFS’s referral of certain records negated a final determination, finding instead that the referral constituted a constructive withholding subject to administrative appeal; (2) alternatively, plaintiff was not a prevailing party against NMFS as the lawsuit did not prompt the agency to alter its position or disclose additional responsive records; (3) plaintiff was eligible for an award against USACE because its lawsuit served as a catalyst for the agency’s additional searches, record releases, and agreement to produce documents in native format with metadata; and (4) plaintiff was entitled to an award bases on traditional four-factor test, but reducing requested amount to exclude time spent on unsuccessful claims and excessive or duplicative billing.
Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.