N.C. Gen. Stat. § 6-19.1

Attorney's fees to parties appealing or defending against agency decision

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section NCLEGncleg.gov (official) JustiaChapter 6 CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) In any civil action, other than an adjudication for the purpose of establishing or fixing a rate, or a disciplinary action by a licensing board, brought by the State or brought by a party who is contesting State action pursuant to G.S. 150B-43 or any other appropriate provisions of law, unless the prevailing party is the State, the court may, in its discretion, allow the prevailing party to recover reasonable attorney's fees, including attorney's fees applicable to the administrative review portion of the case, in contested cases arising under Article 3 of Chapter 150B, to be taxed as court costs against the appropriate agency if:

(1) The court finds that the agency acted without substantial justification in pressing its claim against the party; and

(2) The court finds that there are no special circumstances that would make the award of attorney's fees unjust. The party shall petition for the attorney's fees within 30 days following final disposition of the case. The petition shall be supported by an affidavit setting forth the basis for the request.

Nothing in this section shall be deemed to authorize the assessment of attorney's fees for the administrative review portion of the case in contested cases arising under Article 9 of Chapter 131E of the General Statutes.

Nothing in this section grants permission to bring an action against an agency otherwise immune from suit or gives a right to bring an action to a party who otherwise lacks standing to bring the action.

Any attorney's fees assessed against an agency under this section shall be charged against the operating expenses of the agency and shall not be reimbursed from any other source.

(b) Expired. (1983, c. 918, s. 1; 1987, c. 827, s. 1; 2000-190, s. 1; 2009-475, s. 8.)

§ 6-19.2: Repealed by Session Laws 1995, c. 388, s. 6.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 69 cases (7 in the last 5 years), 1985–2024 · leading case: Early v. County of Durham, Department of Social Services

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Early v. County of Durham, Department of Social Services (2008) ncctapp · cites it 82× “N.C. Gen. Stat. § 6-19.1 (2007) (amended 2001).”

North Carolina Alliance for Transportation Reform, Inc. v. United States Department of Transportation (2001) ncmd · cites it 49× “§ 2412 (b), (d); N.C. Gen.Stat. § 6-19.1. Plaintiffs satisfy this requirement.”

Hoke County Board of Education v. State (2009) ncctapp · cites it 24× “to be taxed as court costs against the appropriate agency if: (1) The court finds that the agency acted without substantial justification in pressing its claim against the party; and (2) The court finds that there are no special circumstances that would make the award of…”

Daily Express, Inc. v. Beatty (2010) ncctapp · cites it 60× “Attorney’s Fees Secondly, Respondent contends that the trial court erred by awarding attorney’s fees to Petitioner pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 6-19.1 . We agree. N.C.”

Crowell Constructors, Inc. v. State Ex Rel. Cobey (1996) nc · cites it 36× “This case comes before this Court for the second time and currently presents an issue of first impression involving an award of attorney’s fees pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 6-19.1. In 1979, Crowell Constructors, Inc.”

Winkler v. N.C. State Bd. of Plumbing (2018) ncctapp · cites it 50× “47 in attorneys' fees and costs pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 6-19.1 . Because the statute excludes cases arising out of the defense of a disciplinary action by a licensing board, we reverse the trial court's order.”

Able Outdoor, Inc. v. Harrelson (1995) nc · cites it 37× “The first question we face in this appeal is whether Judge Cashwell had jurisdiction to interpret N.C.G.S. § 6-19.1 or N.C.G.S. § 1A-1, Rule 11 as to the award of attorney’s fees.”

Izydore v. City of Durham (2013) ncctapp · cites it 38× “On 16 November 2011, petitioner filed a petition, along with supporting affidavits, seeking the recovery of attorney’s fees from respondents pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 6-19.1 . The trial court, after conducting a hearing, issued an order on 8 May 2012 denying the petition on…”

Williams v. North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources (2004) ncctapp · cites it 26× “Pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 6-19.1 , Judge Griffin granted petitioners’ motion and awarded petitioners attorney’s fees and costs for the judicial review portion of the case, excluding the 25.”

Sprinkle v. N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (2004) ncctapp · cites it 23× “The State assigned this award as error, arguing there was no statutory or other authority for the award of attorney’s fees as the Commission’s award was over $10,000.”

Walker v. North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission (1996) ncctapp · cites it 42× “These attorney fees [and expenses] were incurred in a civil action within the meaning of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 6-19.1 and are reasonable.”

High Rock Lake Partners, LLC v. North Carolina Department of Transportation (2014) ncctapp · cites it 29× “Petitioners argue that the trial court erred in denying their motion for attorney’s fees based upon the trial court’s conclusion that “DOT’s positions in this case from the initial denial of the driveway permit through to the Supreme Court’s decision in High Rock [III] were…”

Show all 69 citing cases →

— N.C. Gen. Stat. § 6-19.1(2) — 2 cases

Hodge v. North Carolina Department of Transportation (2003) ncctapp

Daily Express, Inc. v. Beatty (2010) ncctapp “Attorney’s Fees Secondly, Respondent contends that the trial court erred by awarding attorney’s fees to Petitioner pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 6-19.1 . We agree. N.C.”

— N.C. Gen. Stat. § 6-19.1(a) — 8 cases

High Rock Lake Partners, LLC v. North Carolina Department of Transportation (2014) ncctapp “Petitioners argue that the trial court erred in denying their motion for attorney’s fees based upon the trial court’s conclusion that “DOT’s positions in this case from the initial denial of the driveway permit through to the Supreme Court’s decision in High Rock [III] were…”

Winkler v. N.C. State Bd. of Plumbing, Heating & Fire Sprinkler Contractors (2020) nc

Batson v. Coastal Res. Comm'n (2022) ncctapp

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.