Former USA Today Reporter Could Owe Attorney's Fees
As I wrote yesterday, here is Dr. Steven Hatfill’s motion to dismiss Toni Locy’s appeal, which was filed in the D. C. Circuit Court of Appeals last Thursday (there is an accompanying motion for leave to file out of time), courtesy of Samantha Fredrickson at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Hatfill wants the court to dismiss Locy’s appeal of Judge Reggie Walton’s contempt order as moot because he settled his lawsuit against the government and no longer needs to know the names of Locy’s sources. The district court is willing to vacate the contempt order, once it regains jurisdiction of the case, which means, according to the motion, “[b]ecause Locy has not suffered and will not suffer any sanction under the order of contempt, there is no longer any need for this Court to rule on the merits of her appeal.”
But there is, as the motion calls it, an “ancillary issue [that] remains in dispute between Locy and Hatfill.” The district court has indicated that it will award Hatfill his attorney’s fees incurred in connection with the issue, and Hatfill intends to seek them from Locy as soon as the district court regains jurisdiction.
Hatfill is concerned that, despite his settlement with the government, the court of appeals will rule on Locy’s appeal, presumably in her favor, which would eliminate the basis for his motion for attorney’s fees:
In this case, it would be the tail wagging the dog if this Court were to issue a decision addressing whether the district court properly held Locy in contempt to reach an ancillary dispute regarding fees that has not been reduced to any order (and which is therefore not yet appealable )… On the only order now on appeal, which is the only order that has been entered against Locy [the district court’s contempt order], there is nothing remaining to adjudicate.
Assuming that the court of appeals dismisses Locy’s appeal and Hatfill files his motion for attorney’s fees, the district court appears inclined to grant the motion, which could be disastrous for Locy. The court imposed some onerous fines against her (stayed by the court of appeals), and held that only she, as opposed to USA Today, the news organization that employed her, could pay the fines. And I'm sure Hatfill's lawyers have not been cheap.
