Abstract
The Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA" or the "Act") promotes open government by granting citizens access to government information. In the early years of the Act's existence, economic barriers frustrated the open government policy of the Act, preventing the average citizen from utilizing the FOIA disclosure provisions. To remedy that problem and to enable private citizens to expose the unlawful withholding of information by government agencies, Congress amended the FOIA to permit courts to assess reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation costs against the United States in cases where the complainant has "substantially prevailed." This Note analyzes the cases applying the FOIA attorney's fee provision and points out unresolved ambiguities in the statute and the case law. The final section suggests how the ambiguities should be resolved.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.63140/xe6--.3rpa
Recommended Citation
Callister, Mark Louis
(1984)
"The Freedom of Information Act Attorney's Fee
Provision: Judicial Interpretation of the
"Substantially Prevailed" Standard,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 1984:
No.
3, Article 6.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.63140/xe6--.3rpa
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol1984/iss3/6