[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2880 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2880

 To permit the prevailing party in a civil action in Federal court to 
             recover attorneys' fees from the losing party.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 5, 1993

   Mr. Cox introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To permit the prevailing party in a civil action in Federal court to 
             recover attorneys' fees from the losing party.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Loser Pays Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Reforming the civil justice system in the United States 
        is imperative if that system is to remain truly open and 
        accessible to all Americans. Despite the fact that the United 
        States is home to 70 percent of the world's lawyers, Americans 
        do not have access to simple justice as do citizens of other 
        countries. Delays, over-crowded court dockets, harassing suits 
        designed to extort ``settlements'', and increasingly costly 
        proceedings have made it nearly impossible for honest litigants 
        to survive until trial.
            (2) Despite this enormous expenditure of time and money, 
        almost none of these cases will come to trial. In over 96 
        percent of the cases that came to an end in Federal court 
        during 1992, the parties did not get a single day of trial 
        before a judge or jury. The image of an honest judge or jury 
        applying the law to particular facts in order to determine who 
        is right is only that--imaginary.
            (3) Cutting the costs and the length of civil lawsuits is 
        vitally necessary for consumers and businesses alike. They 
        cannot afford the years of expense now necessary to maintain an 
        honest case in the current system. Until this problem is 
        addressed, America's free enterprise system will continue to be 
        at risk.
            (4) Awarding the prevailing party his or her attorneys' 
        fees in civil lawsuits will do much to end the improper 
        incentives for lawsuits that are inflating litigation costs 
        dramatically. It will give meritorious plaintiffs the full 
        measure of the damages they deserve, without deduction for the 
        lawyers' costs of suit. And it will give defendants whose 
        rights are vindicated, often after years of wasted time and 
        money, a chance to be made whole.

SEC. 3. PAYMENT OF ATTORNEYS' FEES.

    (a) Award of Fees.--The prevailing party in any civil action 
brought in or removed to a court of the United States shall be entitled 
to attorneys' fees to the extent that such party prevails on any 
position or claim advanced during the action. Attorneys' fees under 
this subsection shall be paid by the nonprevailing party.
    (b) Records.--Attorneys' fees may not be awarded under subsection 
(a) unless counsel of record in the action involved maintained 
accurate, complete records of hours worked on the matters involved in 
the action, regardless of the fee arrangement with his or her client.
    (c) Limitation on Fees.--The fee award under this section shall not 
exceed the attorneys' fees of the nonprevailing party with respect to 
the particular position or claim. If the nonprevailing party received 
services under a contingent fee agreement, then the fee award to the 
prevailing party shall not exceed the reasonable value of those 
services, as determined by the court at the time the final judgment is 
entered. In addition, the court may, in its discretion, limit the fees 
awarded under subsection (a) to the extent that the court finds 
exceptional, unusual, and special circumstances that make payment of 
such fees unjust.
    (d) Definition.--As used in this section, the term ``prevailing 
party'' means a party to an action who obtains a favorable final 
judgment (other than by settlement), exclusive of interest, on all or a 
portion of the claims asserted in the action.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect 90 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall not apply 
to any action or proceeding commenced before such effective date.

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