The Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division has redelegated portions of the Attorney General's authority to United States Attorneys, and also to Deputy Assistant Attorneys General, branch directors, the Director of the Appellate Staff, the Director of the Office of Foreign Litigation, the Director of the Consumer Protection Branch, the Director of the Office of Immigration Litigation, and Attorneys-in-Charge of field offices of the Civil Division. Civil Division Directive No.1-15, published in the Appendix to Subpart Y immediately following 28 C.F.R. § 0.172, 80 Fed. Reg. 31998-01 (2015), presently details those redelegations. See Civil Division Directive No.1-15, 28 C.F.R. Part 0, Subpt. Y, App.

The United States Attorneys should study that published Directive before compromising, closing, or seeking authorization for the compromising or closing of a civil claim. However, it may be generally said that, subject to the exceptions noted below:

1. 1. The Deputy Assistant Attorneys General of the Civil Division are authorized to act for, and to exercise the authority of, the Assistant Attorney General with respect to the institution of suits, and acceptance or rejection of compromise offers, and the closing of claims or cases, unless any such authority is required by law to be exercised by the Assistant Attorney General personally or has been specifically delegated to another Department official.
2. 2. United States Attorneys, Civil Division Branch, Office and Staff Directors, and Attorneys-in-Charge of Field Offices, are authorized, with respect to matters assigned to their respective components, (and subject to 28 C.F.R. §§ 0.160(d), and 0.164 and sections 1(e) and 4(b) of Directive 1-15, and the authority of the Solicitor General set forth in 28 C.F.R. § 0.163), to reject any offer in compromise, to accept offers in compromise of claims asserted by the United States when the gross amount of the original claim does not exceed $10,000,000, to accept offers in compromise of, or settle administratively, claims against the United States when the principal amount of the proposed settlement does not exceed $1,000,000, or to close any affirmative claim where the gross amount of the original claim does not exceed $10,000,000 . For civil fraud claims, the principal amount of the settlement is the difference between single damages (excluding interest and penalties) and the amount to be paid pursuant to the settlement, and the gross amount of the original claim is the amount of single damages; for claims involving only civil penalties, the gross amount of the original claim is the maximum amount of penalties sought. Civil Division Directive No. 1-15, 28 C.F.R. Part 0, Subpt. Y, App.
3. 3. The authority described in paragraph 2 shall not be exercised (and the matter submitted to the Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division), when the proposed action, as a practical matter, will control or adversely influence the disposition of other cases totaling more than the respective amounts designated above, when a novel question of law or policy is presented, when the United States Attorney involved requests that the matter be submitted to the Assistant Attorney General, when the case is on appeal (except as determined by the Director of the Appellate Staff) or when the agency or agencies involved are opposed to the proposed action. The views of an agency must be solicited with respect to significant proposed action if the agency is a party, if it has asked to be consulted with respect to any such action, or if such action would adversely affect any of its policies. Civil Division Directive No. 1-15, 28 CFR Part 0.
4. 4. United States Attorneys may delegate, in writing, the above compromise and suit authority to Assistant United States Attorneys who supervise other Assistant United States Attorneys who handle civil litigation.

[updated April 2018]