Judicial-election lawsuit winners seek $1.5 million

08/31/2005

Star Tribune
August 31, 2005

Attorneys for the Republican Party of Minnesota, Greg Wersal and other plaintiffs—those who won rulings against the state to ease restrictions on what judicial candidates can say and do—are asking a court to award them about $1.5 million in attorneys’ fees.

Two firms filed documents with the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday seeking the money from the state.

Attorney Bill Mohrman, whose firm, Mohrman & Kaardal, represented Wersal, said they filed the motions under a civil rights act that says prevailing parties are “presumptively entitled” to attorneys’ fees in such cases.

Wersal, a Golden Valley attorney and former state Supreme Court candidate, challenged state restrictions on judicial campaigning and won court decisions that struck down rules preventing candidates from speaking out on disputed issues, aligning with political parties and asking for campaign donations. The case included four arguments before the Eighth Circuit and one before the U.S. Supreme Court, Mohrman said.

The firm of Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom of Terre Haute, Ind., is asking for $898,465, which includes fees to be paid to other attorneys and an expert used in the case. Mohrman’s firm, of Minneapolis, is seeking more than $416,545 and asking for an enhancement of 50 percent more because the case was unusually unpopular and difficult.

An official with the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility hadn’t seen the filings and declined to comment. An attorney with the Board on Judicial Standards didn’t return a phone call.