Judge Bates Cancels Hearing on CH2MHILL Attorney Fees

BATON ROUGE —  State District Judge Kay Bates has notified attorneys for the Central City News and CH2MHILL that she has canceled a hearing scheduled for Monday morning in her court on a motion for attorney fees by CH2MHILL.

The Central City News filed suit against CH2MHILL in April 2010 seeking access to public records in the possession of CH2MHILL relative to the City of Central.  Last summer, Judge Bates granted a motion for summary judgment sought by CH2MHILL that the suit be dismissed, but the Central City News appealed that judgment, and the matter is now pending before the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal.

Meanwhile, CH2MHILL sought to levy the Central City News with a judgment of $68,000 for its attorney fees. The Central City News objected on grounds that attorney fees cannot be levied under Louisiana law against a requestor of public records.

Judge Bates had set a hearing for Monday morning on CH2MHILL’s motion for attorney fees.

However, in her communication with attorneys in the case, Judge Bates said she was canceling the hearing on grounds that the matter was not ripe for decision.

If the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the Central City News, there would be no issue of attorney fees for CH2MHILL and instead attorney fees could be awarded against CH2MHILL in favor of the Central City News for their attorney fees.

PHOTO: Central City News editor Woody Jenkins