Crow Creek Sioux Tribe v. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Justice Servs. (D. S.D.) -- awarding plaintiff $27,484 in attorney’s fees and costs after finding it was both eligible and entitled to such an award; as to eligibility, the court concluded that the lawsuit was the catalyst for the agency’s delayed response, noting that the agency did not begin searching for records until nearly two months after the complaint was filed and did not attempt to extend the statutory deadline; regarding entitlement, the court determined that plaintiff’s request served a significant public interest, involved no commercial motive, and that the government lacked a reasonable legal basis for the delay; lastly, the court deemed the requested fees largely reasonable, except for time spent on an unfiled summary judgment motion, which warranted a 50 percent reduction.
Summaries of all published opinions issued in 2025 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2024 and from 2015 to 2023.