Tommy Shaw v. Library of Congress

SPOTTSWOOD W. ROBINSON, III, Chief Judge:

A corollary to the doctrine of sovereign immunity exempts the United States from liability for interest absent its express consent thereto.1 The sole issue on this appeal is whether the District Court dishonored that precept when, in assessing an attorneys’ fee against the United States, it effected a 30 percent upward adjustment of the lodestar2 to compensate the attorney for delay in receipt of payment. ■

We sustain the adjustment alternatively on two grounds. First, we conclude that the language of the statute authorizing allowances of attorneys’…