ID H0535

Courts shall award the prevailing party reasonable attorney's fees, witness fees and expenses in administrative or civil judicial proceedings between governmental entities and persons or other governmental entities if the losing party acted without reasonable basis in fact or law.

Expands the definition of "governmental entity" to explicitly include "another governmental entity" as a potential adverse party in proceedings where fees may be awarded.

For partial judgments, courts shall award attorney's fees, witness fees and expenses reflecting the prevailing party's proportional recovery if the losing party acted without reasonable basis.

Requires state agencies, cities, counties and taxing districts to pay awarded expenses from regular operating budgets, or treat expenses as claims under applicable state law if budget funds are insufficient.

Persons pleading $2,500 or less must also satisfy requirements of section 12-120, Idaho Code, in addition to this section's requirements before recovering attorney's fees, witness fees or expenses.