Background
Veterans Legal Advocacy Group petitioned the Veterans Court for a writ of mandamus to compel the Department of Veterans Affairs to correct its mailing addresses. The Department of Veterans Affairs corrected the addresses and offered to submit affidavits confirming the changes. The Veterans Court dismissed the petition as moot and denied the group’s application for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, citing precedent that voluntary relief does not confer prevailing-party status.
The court’s reasoning
The court applied the standard from Buckhannon Board and Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, which requires a material alteration of the legal relationship through a judgment on the merits or a court-ordered consent decree. The court found that the November two thousand twenty-one Order only required the Department of Veterans Affairs to submit affidavits to help the court determine mootness. This order did not evaluate the merits of the petition or compel corrective action. Therefore, the order lacked the judicial imprimatur necessary to confer prevailing-party status under the Equal Access to Justice Act.
What it means going forward
This decision clarifies that voluntary government corrections of errors, even when confirmed by a court order for mootness purposes, do not entitle litigants to attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. Litigants must secure a judgment on the merits or a consent decree to establish prevailing-party status.