§ 8602.Definitions.

Section 8602 supplies the vocabulary the rest of Article 86 depends on. An action means a civil action or proceeding brought to seek judicial review of an action of the state, including an appellate proceeding, but it does not include an action brought in the court of claims. Fees and other expenses cover the reasonable expenses of expert witnesses, the reasonable cost of studies, analyses, and consultations with experts, and reasonable attorney fees, including fees for work by law students or paralegals supervised by an attorney, incurred in an administrative proceeding and a judicial action. A final judgment means a judgment that is final and not appealable, or a settlement.

The definition of party in subdivision (d) sets the eligibility line for fee awards. It covers an individual whose net worth, not counting a homestead used as a principal residence, did not exceed fifty thousand dollars when the civil action was filed; the owner of an unincorporated business, or a partnership, corporation, association, real estate developer, or organization with no more than one hundred employees when the action was filed; and any tax-exempt organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, regardless of how many employees it has.

The remaining definitions round out the framework. The position of the state means the act, acts, or failure to act from which judicial review is sought. A prevailing party is a plaintiff or petitioner in the civil action against the state who prevails in whole or in substantial part where that party and the state prevail on separate issues. The state means the state itself or any of its agencies or officials acting in an official capacity.