On July 15, Gordon & Rees Atlanta partner Carl A. Gebo and associate Cecily J. McLeod obtained a rare judgment from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ordering the U.S. Government to pay Gordon & Rees client, 360training.com (360T), $255,518.44 for attorneys’ fees and litigation costs in a government contract protest litigation.
The order in 360Training.com, Inc. v. United States, No. 12-197C (unpublished) (July 15, 2013), granted their motion for attorneys’ fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) finding that the Government had no “substantial justification” for its conduct during the procurement nor during the protest litigation. The Court rejected the Government’s argument that 360T did not merit an EAJA award because its attorneys did not prevail on all of their motions by noting that just because “360’s attorneys didn’t bat 1.000 doesn’t mean that they lost.”
This fee award caps an 18-month battle waged by Gebo and McLeod on behalf of 360T. After being rejected as a vendor qualified to provide U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Online Outreach Training Program courses, 360T had Gebo and McLeod protest OSHA’s award decision in the Court of Federal Claims in March 2012. After defeating a motion to dismiss that Judge Damich invited OSHA to file (360Training.com, Inc. v. United States, 104 Fed. Cl. 575 (2012)), 360T won its motion for judgment on the administrative record (360Training.com, Inc. v. United States, 106 Fed. Cl. 177 (2012)).
In September 2012, the Court ordered OSHA to rescind awards of contracts to 360T’s competitors and to reinstate 360T as a qualified vendor. 360T became the No. 1 provider of online OSHA training courses in 2010. Regaining the ability to sell those online courses was vital to maintaining that line of business.