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National Law Journal

September 15, 2003

SECTION: DECISIONS; Vol. 26; No. 3; Pg. 12

LENGTH: 2542 words

HEADLINE: DECISIONS

BODY:
ATTORNEY FEES

Defendant, vindicated, can get fees as damages

The Federal Tort Claims Act [FTCA] allows for the recovery of attorney fees as damages for abuse of process and malicious prosecution if "the law of the place" where the tort occurred so provides, the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia said on Sept. 2. Tri-State Hospital Supply Corp. v. U.S., No. 02-5045.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Tri-State, a company that imported surgical instruments from Pakistan, for allegedly falsifying customs forms. After the DOJ dropped its fraud claim, the jury returned a verdict in Tri-State's favor on the remaining negligence claim. Tri-State then sued the DOJ under the FTCA, alleging malicious prosecution and abuse of process and seeking $3.2 million in compensation for the attorney fees it spent defending itself. But ruling that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction, a D.C. federal court dismissed the case.

Reversing, the circuit court noted that the FTCA grants exclusive jurisdiction to the district courts over civil actions against the U.S. seeking money damages for injury or loss of property under circumstances where the country, if it was a private person, would be liable to the claimant "in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred." It ruled that damages incurred in defending a suit later found to be malicious or abusive may be characterized as damages for "injury of loss of property."

Decisions - Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA)