context: In sum, under our decisions in Brickwood, Former Employees of Motorola, and Vaughn, in order to demonstrate that it is a "prevailing party," an EAJA applicant must show that it obtained an enforceable judgment on the merits or a court-ordered consent decree that materially altered the legal relationship between the parties, or the equivalent of either of those. This approach is consistent with the approach taken by the majority of the circuits that have considered the issue.
citation_a.signal: but see
citation_a.identifier: 315 F.3d 990, 993
citation_a.parenthetical: "Buckhannon ... makes it clear that a party prevails only if it receives either an enforceable judgment on the merits or a consent decree."
citation_a.sentence: But see Christina A. v. Bloomberg, 315 F.3d 990, 993 (8th Cir.2003) (“Buckhannon ... makes it clear that a party prevails only if it receives either an enforceable judgment on the merits or a consent decree.”).
citation_b.signal: see
citation_b.identifier: 290 F.3d 159, 165
citation_b.parenthetical: holding that an order characterized as a stipulated settlement conferred prevailing party status because it used mandatory language, bore the judge's signature, and was judicially enforceable
citation_b.sentence: See, e.g., Roberson v. Giuliani, 346 F.3d 75, 81 (2d Cir.2003) (“We therefore join the majority of courts to have considered the issue since Buckhannon in concluding that judicial action other than a judgment on the merits or a consent decree can support an award of attorney’s fees, so long as such action carries with it sufficient judicial imprimatur.” (footnote and citation omitted)); Truesdell v. Philadelphia Hous. Auth., 290 F.3d 159, 165 (3d Cir.2002) (holding that an order characterized as a stipulated settlement conferred prevailing party status because it used mandatory language, bore the judge’s signature, and was judicially enforceable); Smyth v. Rivero, 282 F.3d 268, 281 (4th Cir.2002) (“We doubt that the Supreme Court’s guidance in Buckhannon was intended to be interpreted so restrictively as to require that the words ‘consent decree’ be used explicitly.”); T.D. v. LaGrange Sch. Dist. No. 102, 349 F.3d 469, 478 (7th Cir.2003) (“[S]ome settlement agreements, even though not explicitly labeled as a ‘consent decree’ may confer ‘prevailing party’ status, if they are sufficiently analogous to a consent decree.”); Am. Disability Ass’n, Inc. v. Chmielarz, 289 F.3d 1315, 1319 (11th Cir.2002) (“[T]he essential test established by [Buckhannon] requires the plaintiff to achieve a ‘judicially sanctioned change in the legal relationship of the par ties.’ ” (citation omitted)); Oil, Chem. & Atomic Workers Int’l Union v. Dep’t of Energy, 288 F.3d 452, 458-59 (D.C.Cir.2002) (implying that a stipulated order of dismissal could confer prevailing party status if it carried sufficient judicial imprimatur to materially change the legal relationship of the parties).