United States v. Basler Turbo-67 Conversion DC-3 Aircraft

MEMORANDUM **

The district court granted Innovair Aviation Limited (“Innovair”) $113,584.41 in attorneys’ fees pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412 . Innovair timely appealed, alleging that the district court made various errors in determining the amount for the fee award. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm in part, reverse in part and remand. Because the parties are familiar with the factual and procedural history of this case, we will not recount it here.

Innovair raises four challenges to the district court’s award. First, the company argues that the district court erred under Commissioner, INS v. Jean, 496 U.S. 154 , 110 S.Ct. 2816 , 110 L.Ed.2d 134 (1990), by conducting two “substantial justification” inquiries in determining the fee award. Second, Innovair claims that the district court clearly erred in finding that the government did not act in bad faith — a finding that the district court relied upon in deciding to deny an upward departure from the statutory hourly rate for attorneys’ fees set out in the EAJA. See Brown v. Sullivan, 916 F.2d 492, 495 (9th Cir.1990) (stating that a district court’s finding…