Yesterday Federal Judge James Selna reversed an earlier award of court fees to Capo High teacher James Corbett. The decision cancelled a court clerk’s action ordering Farnan to reimburse Corbett for $12,000 in court fees.
Farnan prevailed this year on one of several classroom comments made by Corbett which Farnan alleged were anti-Christian and in violation of his constitutional rights. The comment found by Judge Selna to be unconstitutional referred to religion as “superstitious nonsense.”
Selna also denied a request by CUSD for recovery of almost $400,000 in attorney and court costs. Although CUSD was found not liable, the Court cited a 1978 case holding that attorney fees should not be awarded to a defendant in a civil rights case unless the lawsuit was “frivolous, unreasonable or groundless.” The Judge wrote:
[An award of costs] is not warranted because of the complexity and closeness of the issues, the merits of C.F.’s [Chad Farnan's] case, and the potential chill on future plaintiffs in this important but unclear area of civil rights law. . . C.F.’s claim, far from being frivolous or baseless, represented an extremely close question of First Amendment law. The law is unclear at best, as noted in the Court’s qualified immunity decision, and the issue is of substantial importance, likely to affect the manner in which public educators discuss religion in classrooms.
Both sides have appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit Court. [For more...]
