The American Civil Liberties Union is appealing a U.S. District Court ruling that netted the ACLU $2,706 to cover the cost of challenging the state's 1991 law banning most abortions.
A notice of appeal was filed Thursday in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver of U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Greene's recent ruling awarding the ACLU $71,663 from the state - and the state $68,957 from the ACLU.The ACLU had sought more than $700,000 to pay the New York-based attorneys who argued the case last year for as much as $355 an hour. But Greene criticized how ACLU attorneys documented and justified their time.
The awarding of fees to the state is the primary basis for the appeal. Although the ACLU won fewer issues in the case than the state, the organization claimed victory because the judge ruled the state could not ban abortions.
"The award of fees to the state not only flies in the face of our view of who won, but jeopardizes future civil rights litigation across the range of issues," said Kathryn Kendall, staff attorney for the ACLU.
Kendall said that, based on legal precedent, defendants in civil rights cases don't get fees from plaintiffs unless a court rules the plaintiff's case is frivolous and without merit.
Mary Anne Q. Wood, the attorney hired to defend the law, said Greene's ruling was "well-reasoned and well-supported and it will be difficult to sustain an appeal. But obviously (attorneys for the ACLU) weren't satisfied."
Attorney General Jan Graham is disappointed by the ACLU's decision to appeal because it will "just be more cost to taxpayers," according to her spokesman, Palmer DePaulis.
Wood said taxpayers are still getting a good deal. "Would you rather pay their $700,000 bill? That's the bottom line. We were successful in reducing the net to the plaintiffs to $2,700."
The legal battle over the law itself is not yet finished. Both sides agreed earlier this year to stay an appeal to the 10th Circuit while an attempt is made for an out-of-court settlement.
The law attempted to ban abortions except in cases of rape, incest, grave fetal deformity or health-threatening pregnancy. Greene's ruling that the state could not ban abortions came after the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed Roe vs. Wade, its 1973 decision legalizing abortion.
Utah is in the midst of another legal battle over a 1993 law requiring women seeking abortions to wait 24 hours after receiving counseling about adoption and other alternatives. Last month, U.S. Magistrate Ronald Boyce heard arguments in a suit against the law filed by the New York-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.