SALT LAKE CITY — The ACLU is asking for Utah taxpayers to shell out nearly $200,000 for a legal battle over same-sex marriage recognition.
In two separate filings, the ACLU and other attorneys sought money for fees and costs. They asked a federal judge in Utah to order the state to pay $164,000 for their work on Evans v. Utah. They ask for another $33,000 in a filing with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday.
Read the filing in U.S. District Court in Utah here:
“There was a significant need for expediency in the case as the Plaintiffs, and the other 1,000 plus couples, suffered real harm each day the Defendants withheld from these couples the constitutionally guaranteed privileges of other legally married couples. Additionally, the novel and complex issues involved in the case required a great deal of time,” attorneys wrote in a filing justifying the cost.
Read the filing with the 10th Circuit Court here:
The Utah Attorney General’s Office said in a statement to FOX 13 on Tuesday that the amount sought is “unreasonable.”
Read the statement here:
“After negotiations with plaintiffs counsel for reasonable fees broke down, plaintiffs in the Evans case filed two fee motions, one in federal district court and one in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, totaling nearly $200,000, for a matter that was essentially one motion of significance and one court hearing lasting approximately an hour or less. At the time the State withdrew its appeal before the Tenth Circuit, the State had been the prevailing party in getting the United States Supreme Court to stay the district court’s injunction. Negotiations broke down because items presented included billing for multiple press conferences, multiple billings for several lawyers to do a single job, and even included a bill entry for over $200 for one attorney’s ‘crying and gnashing of teeth’ in response to the United States Supreme Court granting a stay. The Attorney General’s Office found these requests unreasonable and will address the discrepancies in court. We trust that the district court and Tenth Circuit will make equitable determinations.”
“It was the state refusing to honor these marriages that made the lawsuit necessary in the first place,” ACLU of Utah Legal Director John Mejia said in response Tuesday.
The state alone paid nearly $300,000 to defend the main case involving same-sex marriage, Kitchen v. Herbert, in which Utah’s Amendment 3 was struck down. The National Center for Lesbian Rights, which was co-counsel in the Kitchen case, said they were not seeking attorney’s fees from the state.
If the ACLU prevails on fees in the Evans case, it appears Utah will have paid at least $500,000 to fight same-sex marriage in the state.
Four same-sex couples who married in the days after Amendment 3 was overturned sued the state after Governor Gary Herbert ordered government agencies not to recognize same-sex marriage. A federal judge ordered the state to recognize them and Utah appealed to the 10th Circuit Court.
The case was gearing up for litigation when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the state’s appeal of Amendment 3, making same-sex marriage legal once again in Utah. Within days, the state backed out of all of its litigation involving same-sex marriage and the governor directed state agencies to recognize the unions.
Jay
When you win a lawsuit, you’re entitled to that. Nothing unusual here at all. Thanks for the sensationalistic headline.
And you DO realize that adds up to literally ONE CENT for everybody in the state of Utah, right?
……biased much?
bob
This is a stunt to solicit donations. There is zero chance of victory. They’re suing the government. In effect: Asking the government to punish voters for exercising their right to vote their conscience.
Even if they find a judge zany enough to even hear the case, and a jury full of communists and hippies, it would be laughed out of appeals court.
You can’t sue voters for voting for things you don’t like.
Normandy
sorry, but im afraid youre dumb. The state of Utah will have to pay the court fees (hint-every time a court case is decdied, the victor can claim court fees from the losers-be it a state, a company or a person-sorry bud)
bob
I will bet you $1000 cash, right now, that they never collect a cent.
If they did, it would open up TRILLIONS of dollars worth of liability for every government entity at any level that has ever lost a lawsuit.
Zero possibility that this case will even make it to a jury. None at all. It’s a stunt.
Rich
And let the lawsuits begin… Who would have thought…
Normandy
and they will pay-theyre bigoted cultists losers whose leaders are bigoted cultist losers. Did you not learn that God hates Mormons when Prop 8 was overturned? Fools
palpatine
Good….good…..your hate has made you powerful.
LDS: Profit Prophets
The lds are the real hate mongers, they are the reason for this law suit. They cannot stand non-members being happy. It is bad for their bottom line.
bob
Prop 8 passed by more than 50% of the vote. If every single Mormon man, woman and child in California voted for it they only accounted for 2 1/2%.
Try again, Hate Boy.
AnotherBob
Are you suggesting that Mormons are the only ones who voted for Prop 8 NORMANDY? They aren’t the only ones who understand what Mother Nature intended.
trollasaurus
Normandy, you are the reason some people should not be allowed to breed.
bob
Don’t worry. What he does can’t cause pregnancy.
chilidog99
Pay it.
bob
That includes YOU, Einstein. Or don’t you pay taxes?
There is no possibility any money will be paid, but if it is I’ll calculate my share and cheat on my taxes to make up the difference. I will NEVER pay a fine for voting.
Magic Undies Cult
The cult could foot the bill…
Michael R.
Would someone (besides me) have the guts to tell the (Anti)american Civil Liberals Union to stop making a caricature of themselves and shell out money that *I* cannot afford so they can keep subsidizing racism?
LDS: Profit Prophets
The cult should foot the bill. I am sure the profit prophets can spare some of their cash…
bob
LOL! Sad little person.
bob
How about you just stop giving them money? They don’t get any of mine.
Then attempt minding your own business, if that’s possible.
Casey
You are right. LDS cult should foot the bill. They are the ones behind all of this. They should have to pay for their hate, not the rest of us.
Stuart McDonald
No Casey, the LDS Church and it’s members aren’t the only ones who oppose $exual deviancy. It was the African Americans in California who helped pass Prop 8. Didn’t you know that?