Jefferson County taxpayers could be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars after a federal appeals court ruled this week that the attorneys’ fees awarded to a county critic weren’t enough.
After Mike Zinna won his First Amendment lawsuit against former Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Congrove, a federal district judge ruled the county had to reimburse Zinna only $8,000 for attorneys’ fees, even though Zinna had requested more than $500,000. Zinna appealed the ruling to the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Tuesday, that court ruled that and ordered the case back to the lower court for the judge to try again.
“The court arbitrarily assumed that this amount was sufficient without reference to the record,” two of the three 10th Circuit judges who heard the case wrote in the ruling. “This leaves us with no alternative but to conclude that an abuse of discretion resulted.”
The third judge on the 10th Circuit panel took issue with some parts of the majority’s ruling but ultimately concurred.
“I’m pleased with the decision,” Zinna said Thursday. “I think it was a big victory for the First Amendment and bloggers and Internet journalists.”
A spokeswoman for Jefferson County declined to comment.
The case . Zinna said county officials harassed him, investigated him and had him followed after he began reporting on county scandals on a website called JeffcoExposed.com. He sued in 2005, and, after a series of legal rulings, only a claim of First Amendment retaliation against Congrove went to a jury.
The jury found in Zinna’s favor and , an amount corresponding to the year the First Amendment was ratified. U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch subsequently ruled that the award was nominal and that Zinna was entitled to only $8,000 in attorneys’ fees.
The 10th Circuit judges concluded the jury award was not nominal because it validated Zinna’s work, which served a public purpose. But, while saying Zinna deserved more in attorneys’ fees, the judges cautioned that he doesn’t deserve the $503,000 requested because that figure also includes work his lawyers did on legal claims on which they were unsuccessful in swaying jurors.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
