In The News . . . . Nonprofit Hit With $19,688 In Routine Costs In Farnan-Corbett Litigation

Costs Awarded to Capistrano Unified School District and California Teacher Association; Separate Fee Motions Pending Against Nonprofit.

     In our September 18, 2009 post, we chronicled the end of the lawsuit brought by Murrieta-based Advocates for Faith & Freedom, a Christian legal group representing student Chad Farnan on a pro bono basis, where high school teacher James Corbett was found to have violated the First Amendment rights of Mr. Farnan but was found not financially liable under the qualified immunity defense. However, Capistrano Unified School District and California Teachers Association were found not liable at all without resort to any immunities.

     Now, in a strange twist of fate, the school district and teachers’ union recently were awarded $19,688 in routine costs as the prevailing parties in the action. Pending later, on November 9, 2009, are the attorneys’ fees motions brought by the two groups seeking a combined $378,519 in fees. That will be heard before U.S. District Judge James V. Selna, who sits in the Santa Ana division of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Advocates for Faith have indicated that it plans to appeal the entire case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

     For more details on this story, see Scott Martindale’s article “Fees awarded to legal team of teacher sued over remarks” that is available for reading in the October 25, 2009 issue of The Orange County Register.