Mealey's (October 26, 2023, 11:47 AM EDT) -- HONOLULU — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 25 upheld denial of attorney fees and nontaxable costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) in a lawsuit over the valuation of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), with the majority holding “that the government was substantially justified in its position” and the dissenter opining that the majority used “a gross dilution of the EAJA’s standard.”...