Code of Federal Regulations Title 47. Telecommunication § 47.1.1505 Standards for awards

(a) A prevailing party may receive an award for fees and expenses incurred in connection either with an adversary adjudication, or with a significant and discrete substantive portion of an adversary adjudication in which the party has prevailed over the position of the Commission.

(b) If, in an adversary adjudication arising from a Commission action to enforce a party's compliance with a statutory or regulatory requirement, the demand of the Commission is substantially in excess of the decision in the adversary adjudication and is unreasonable when compared with that decision, under the facts and circumstances of the case, the party shall be awarded the fees and other expenses related to defending against the excessive demand, unless the party has committed a willful violation of law or otherwise acted in bad faith, or special circumstances make an award unjust. The “demand” of the Commission means the express demand which led to the adversary adjudication, but it does not include a recitation by the Commission of the maximum statutory penalty in the administrative complaint, or elsewhere when accompanied by an express demand for a lesser amount.

(c) The burden of proof that an award should not be made is on the appropriate Bureau (see § 1.21) whose representative shall be called “Bureau counsel” in this subpart K.