Bergman v. United States

CORNELIA G. KENNEDY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs-appellants Walter Bergman and James T. Drummond1 appeal the judgment of the District Court denying their claim for attorneys’ fees against defendant-appellee the United States in this action under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S. C. § 2671 (“FTCA”). The plaintiffs assert that they are entitled to fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412 (“EAJA”).

Plaintiff Walter Bergman was beaten by a mob in Anniston, Alabama during the Freedom Rides, a civil rights protest, in 1961. Sixteen years later, in 1977, Mr. Bergman and his wife,…