Gahagan v. USCIS, No. 16-15438, 2017 WL 4003851 (E.D. La. Sept. 12, 2017) (Feldman, J.)

Gahagan v. USCIS, No. 16-15438, 2017 WL 4003851 (E.D. La. Sept. 12, 2017) (Feldman, J.)

Re:  Request for records concerning plaintiff's client

Disposition:  Sustaining in part and rejecting in part defendant's objection to magistrate judge's report and recommendation; rejecting in part and adopting in part magistrate judge's report and recommendation; denying plaintiff's motion for attorney fees; granting plaintiff's motion for costs; awarding plaintiff $451.47 in costs

• Attorney Fees:  The court holds that, "insofar as [plaintiff] is appearing pro se, . . .  [plaintiff is] ineligible to recover attorney's fees in this FOIA case."  The court explains that "the Supreme Court held that an attorney who represents himself in a successful civil rights action may not be awarded reasonable attorney's fees as part of the costs."  "What the Supreme Court impliedly held is equally clear: the same bright line rule applies to attorneys representing themselves in successful actions based on similar federal fee-shifting statutes fulfilling similar statutory policies."  "Statutes like FOIA."
   
• Attorney Fees:  "Although the Court finds that [plaintiff] is not eligible to recover attorney's fees . . . considering this Court's prior rulings as to eligibility as well as its de novo review of the magistrate judge's thorough consideration of [plaintiff's] eligibility and entitlement to costs, [plaintiff] may recover $451.47 in costs under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(E)(i)."