[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 1, Parts 1 to 199]
[Revised as of October 1, 2000]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 45CFR13.5]

[Page 67]
 
                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
 
                           AND HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 13--IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT IN AGENCY PROCEEDINGS--Table of Contents
 
                      Subpart A--General Provisions
 
Sec. 13.5  Standards for awards.

    (a) Awards will not be made for fees and expenses where the 
Department's position in the proceeding was substantially justified at 
the time the proceeding was initiated. The fact that a party has 
prevailed in a proceeding does not create a presumption that the 
Department's position was not substantially justified. The burden of 
proof that an award should not be made to an eligible prevailing 
applicant is on the agency's litigating party, which may avoid an award 
by showing that its position was reasonable in law and fact.
    (b) When two or more matters are joined together for one hearing, 
each of which could have been heard separately (without regard to laws 
or rules fixing a jurisdictional minimum amount for claims), and an 
applicant has prevailed with respect to one or several of the matters, 
an eligible applicant may receive an award for expenses associated only 
with the matters on which it prevailed if the Department's position on 
those matters was not substantially justified.
    (c) Awards for fees and expenses incurred before the date on which a 
proceeding was initiated will be made only if the applicant can 
demonstrate that they were reasonably incurred in preparation for the 
proceeding.
    (d) Awards will be reduced or denied if the applicant has unduly or 
unreasonably protracted the proceeding or if other special circumstances 
make an award unjust.