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Show Environmentalists Must Fay Court Costs, Judge Decides Environmentalists continued their losing streak in Senior Judge Aldon Anderson's federal district court last week, with his decision that they must pay their own legal fees generated from their lawsuit over plans to improve the Burr Trail. A representative from one of the four environmentalist organizations that formed a coalition to file the suit expressed disappointment over Judge Anderson's decision, stating she believed they ;had met the conditions under which the government should pay the fees. In his decision, Judge Anderson wrote that federal law allows him to award legal costs under two conditions: the party claiming fees must have prevailed and it must be established that the government was not "substantially justified" in taking the position which prompted the lawsuit. The coalition composed of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and National Parks and Conservation Association sought approximately $143,000 in attorney fees and another $30,000 in related costs. Salt Lake Attorney Wayne Petty who would have shared the fees with an attorney from the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund said that if the judge's decision stands, they will donate their time rather than try to recover the fees from the four groups involved. |