The U.S. District Court in Montana granted Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America’s (R-CALF USA’s) motion for reimbursement of attorney fees and costs in their beef checkoff case against the USDA.
The district court found that USDA’s conduct by entering into a memorandum of understanding with the Montana Beef Council regarding the beef checkoff program before R-CALF USA’s litigation was not substantially justified. The ruling stated, “USDA should have known that the program that R-CALF challenged was unconstitutional . . .” It also found that USDA’s “litigation position lacked a reasonable basis in law and was therefore not substantially justified,” according to a press release by R-CALF USA.
Thus, the court found that R-CALF USA was a “prevailing party” under the Equal Access to Justice Act.
