California Must Pay $800,000 In Legal Fees To Church For Covid Clampdown

[G.L.R.]

Governments Must Pay $800,000 in Legal Fees to Church for COVID-19 Overreach

September 2, 2021

California officials have agreed to pay $800,000 in prevailing-party attorneys' fees to a popular Christian megachurch in Los Angeles


After state and federal courts in California issued permanent  injunctions barring government officials there from ever again imposing  discriminatory restrictions on houses of worship. In the United States, unsuccessful litigants only rarely have to pay their opponents' legal fees, even when their cases are weak. Although it's common in other parts of the Anglosphere such as the United Kingdom and Canada for the unsuccessful party in civil litigation to be required to pay the legal costs of the successful litigant, it's "very rare" for it to happen in the United States... The Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm,  represented Grace Community Church in  legal proceedings that began in March 2020 when California and local  governments initiated a sweeping response to combat SARS-CoV-2... Government officials repeatedly tried  to shut down in-person church attendance after the pandemic began.

On Aug. 31, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles  voted to approve the settlement with GCC and MacArthur. Under the  agreement, the county will pay $400,000, and an additional $400,000 will  be paid by the state of California as compensation for the attorneys'  fees incurred by GCC and MacArthur. ...  Thomas More Society special counsel Charles LiMandri said in a  statement: "This was a very hard-fought case every step of the way.  Pastor MacArthur and Grace Community Church refused to bow to government  tyranny and they finally obtained the excellent result they deserved... No longer can the County of Los Angeles  and the State of California treat people of faith like second class  citizens...

Had government officials refused to settle on the issue of legal fees after having court orders issued against them, the courts would probably have ordered them to pay a larger sum than they ultimately settled upon, Jonna said. The other side "knew that they were going to be exposed to significant attorneys' fees if they didn't settle these cases." "The general rule in American law is that each party bears their own fees," Jonna said. ... the actions taken against the church were "very clearly retaliatory," A year ago, the county abruptly canceled a lease for parking space  that the church had been using since 197... "If you look at the timing, there was no basis to revoke the lease other than to intimidate them," Jonna said. Officials also tried to intimidate MacArthur, threatening him with jail time and citations, the lawyer said.

Governments Must Pay $800,000 in Legal Fees to Church for COVID-19 Overreach
https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/governments-must-pay-800k-in-legal-fees-to-church-for-covid-overreach_3979180.html