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HR 5477
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Litigation Reimbursement Act

To direct courts to award attorneys fees in criminal cases that do not result in a conviction, and for other purposes.

Introduced Sep 18, 2025

Latest action (Sep 18, 2025) Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Referred to
Judiciary Committee
Policy area
Law
Issues
Criminal Justice

Summary
  • Requires courts to award attorneys fees and other litigation expenses to defendants in criminal cases that proceed to trial and result in a verdict of not guilty, instead of allowing courts to discretionarily award such fees
  • Makes awards of costs and fees mandatory in civil cases under federal law, instead of allowing them to be discretionary
  • Updates the effective date of the criminal attorneys fees provision from fiscal year 1998 to fiscal year 2026

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)
1 cosponsor

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Richard Mccormick’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

  • Employer not reported $21,624
  • INFO REQUESTED $18,600
  • CEO $15,700
  • EXECUTIVE $12,900
  • SANKRANTI / VENSAI TECHNOLOGIES $12,505

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Richard Mccormick → · Outside spending →

Actions (2)
  1. Sep 18, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
  2. Sep 18, 2025 Introduced in House

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

  • HR 9536 — FEES Act of 2026 · Introduced Jun 30, 2026 · Cong. 119 66%
  • HR 9295 — Stop Serial Litigation Act of 2026 · Introduced Jun 11, 2026 · Cong. 119 63%
  • S 3581 — No Settlements for January 6 Law Enforcement Assaulters Act · Introduced Jan 6, 2026 · Cong. 119 60%
  • HR 9961 — No Campaign Funded Cover-Ups Act · Introduced Jul 27, 2026 · Cong. 119 59%
  • HR 5654 — To provide for interim appropriations for the District of Columbia courts and related agencies with respect to any fiscal year for which appropriations are not otherwise provided for such courts and agencies. · Introduced Sep 30, 2025 · Cong. 119 59%
  • HR 8353 — FAITH Act · Introduced Apr 16, 2026 · Cong. 119 58%

Text versions (1)
  • Introduced in House · Sep 18, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 18, 2025

Mr. McCormick (for himself and Mr. Ezell) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To direct courts to award attorneys fees in criminal cases that do not result in a conviction, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Litigation Reimbursement Act”.

SEC. 2. AWARD OF ATTORNEYS FEES REQUIRED IN CRIMINAL CASES THAT DO NOT RESULT IN A CONVICTION.

Section 617 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 (18 U.S.C. 3006A note) is amended—

(1) by striking “fiscal year 1998” and inserting “fiscal year 2026”;

(2) by striking “pending on or after the date of the enactment of this Act” and inserting “pending on or after the date of the enactment of the Litigation Reimbursement Act”; and

(3) by striking “may award to a prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney’s fee and other litigation expenses, where the court finds that the position of the United States was vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith,” and inserting “shall award to a prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney’s fee and other litigation expenses, in any case that proceeds to trial and with respect to which a verdict is rendered by the judge or jury that is not a conviction,”.

SEC. 3. AWARD OF COSTS AND FEES REQUIRED IN CIVIL CASES.

Section 2412 of title 28, United States Code, is amended—

(1) in subsection (a), by striking “may be awarded” and inserting “shall be awarded”; and

(2) in subsection (b), by striking “may be awarded” and inserting “shall be awarded”. <all>

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