WildEarth Guardians' natural habitat is a courtroom ( NM & Colorado )

Craig Daily Press ^ | July 21, 2015 | Patrick Kelly

[george76]

Though a relatively small organization with only 26 people on staff, WildEarth Guardians’ litigious nature has established the environmental advocacy group as a dominant voice in the national debate about environmental policy.

From 2010 to present, Guardians have initiated a total of 152 cases in federal district courts and 55 in the Circuit Court of Appeals for a total of 207 cases. In 2010 alone they filed 61 claims — an average of about one per week.

However, Guardians’ pervasiveness in the courts has not gone without criticism.

In a 2012 analysis of WildEarth Guardians' legal activity, the conservative group Americans for Prosperity claimed that Guardians has been “misusing the judicial system, exploiting poorly-written laws and taking advantage of taxpayers to pursue a narrow, litigation-driven, special interest agenda.”

...

Guardians received $523,038 in government grants in 2014,

...

At one point in time we were suing the EPA five times in the state of New Mexico and they still were giving us money to do restoration work

...

Another cause for concern among opponents of WildEarth Guardians is the Equal Access to Justice Act, which allows litigants to collect reimbursement for legal expenses if they are deemed the prevailing party in a suit.

[Oatka]

the Equal Access to Justice Act, which allows litigants to collect reimbursement for legal expenses if they are deemed the prevailing party in a suit.

This is why you see the ACLU dipping its fingers in a lot of litigation.

[sidebar]A 2011 revision to that law evidently went nowhere. Had some good features:
The new bill would require that people who sue show they have a “direct and personal monetary interest” in suing the government to be eligible to recoup court costs.
It would set a new, higher cap of $175 per hour for attorney fees, peg that to inflation and cap total reimbursement to $200,000. It would allow no more than three reimbursements in a calendar year.

Crapo and Risch cited court documents suggesting groups have sued the government more than 1,200 times and received upward of $35 million in taxpayer funds.

[george76]

Another way for clever lawyers to rip off the taxpayers and worse.

[CedarDave]

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