any official of the United States acting in his or her official capacity."
Third, plaintiff makes a series of factual and legal arguments to support his assertion that the position of the United States in this case was not "substantially justified."
The Government does not object to plaintiff's assertion that he has satisfied the second statutory requirement of EAJA: that this be a non-tort civil action brought against the United States. Neither does the Government contest that plaintiff is a "party" within the meaning of EAJA. However, the Government does make four separate arguments as to why plaintiff is ineligible to receive attorneys' fees under 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d).
First, the Government argues that plaintiff's motion is untimely. Second, the Government argues that plaintiff is not a prevailing party within theNo. 99-80, 99 Stat. 186. See Def. Memo in Opp. at 6.
In support of its "substantial justification" argument, defendants rely heavily on a pre-EAJA Sixth Circuit case, Trident Marine v. District Engineer, The United States Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, 766 F.2d 974, 977-80 (6th Cir. 1985) (holding that the "position of the United States" refers only to the Government's litigating position).
The Court believes that the 1985 EAJA Amendments unequivocally clarified the congressional intent as to "the position of the United States." Indeed, one of the very purposes of the amendments was to reject defendants' arguments which had been adopted by other courts. First, the House Report noted:
... in clarifying the "position" [of the United States] term, the Committee expressly rejects the holding ... that the only