The Chambers County Board of Education (CCBOE) is being ordered to pay over $350,000 in court costs to the private plaintiff in the desegregation case against the school system.
The steep price tag comes after a judge ruled that a consolidated high school for LaFayette and Valley must be built in Valley. This recent settlement decision by the judge came after the Board of Education complied with the desegregation order.
The plaintiffs in the desegregation case, Anthony T. Lee et al, sought litigation expenses from the school board after being declared the prevailing party in the case.
The Board of Education does not dispute the plaintiff's claims about the need for desegregation of the school systems. The primary argument from the school board is that the ruling took place "some thirty years" before the period for which the plaintiffs were requesting reimbursement, according to court documents.
There was a discussion on the proposed rates for the attorneys involved in the litigation. The CCBOE argued that because Stanley Gray's time commitment involved less monitoring of the school board's compliance, his focus on the issue of consolidating the high schools reflects the value of his services. After these factors were considered, Gray's rate was set at $400 per hour with 892.5 hours spent on the case over the course of two decades. Fred Gray's rate was billed at $500 per hour, spending only two billing hours on the litigation.
The plaintiff's prevailing party status allows them to request reimbursement from the losing party. The school board argued that the plaintiffs' prevailing party status was diminished over time, particularly because the board had made good faith efforts to address the segregation problem with the future construction of the new consolidated high school.
The court found the Board of Education's arguments to be wholly unconvincing due to a failure to consider the broader context of the litigation. The court ruled that while the school board has taken steps to correct discrimination issues affecting black students in Chambers County, the current efforts were not sufficient in meeting the criteria of eradicating "the vestiges of past discrimination to the extent practicable," according to court documents.
The courts ruled that the plaintiff was entitled to recover attorneys' fees and expenses based on the precedent set by the Lee v. Macon County school segregation case, in which the recovery of the prevailing party's fees was granted.
The original amount sought by the plaintiff totaled $407,695.64. After review of the fees and costs associated with the case, several items were removed from the list. Among those were travel expenses incurred from mediation in Washington, D.C. Originally, the attorneys for the plaintiff asked for reimbursement for parking/tolls, taxi services, meals, hotel, air travel, and mileage. The six items listed were excluded from the judge's final decision, citing that the expenses are not recoverable under 28 U.S. Code section 1821. The items included in the qualifying expenses were deposition transcriptions, the court reporter's fee and the photocopying of documents to ensure proper documentation of the litigation.
During the Chambers County Board of Education meeting on Oct. 8, the board met with its attorney, Bob Meadows, to discuss the details of the litigation and subsequent court order in executive session. Dr. Sharon Weldon, superintendent of the Chambers County School Board, recommended that the board comply with the ruling at the reduced rate.