Kovacs v. U.S.

Dist. Ct. did not err in awarding plaintiff only $3,750 in attorneys’ fees arising out of her efforts to resist IRS’s claims for back taxes that had previously been discharged in bankruptcy. Most of plaintiff’s attorneys’ fee request was uncollectible because fees had been generated outside applicable two-year limitations period. Moreover, Bankruptcy Ct. properly calculated fee at $150 per hour statutory rate under 26 USC section 7430. Ct. rejected plaintiff’s contention that Bankruptcy Ct. should have found that fee request was recoverable under section 7433, which has no statutory per hour fee limitation, and that she was entitled to all of her requested fees because she was prevailing party.