Lawsuit costs state $162,000 in fees

The legal fees stem from a suit in which the plaintiff won a $7,200 judgment

The state is asking the Legislature to pay a claim of $162,000 in legal fees to attorneys who represented a man who won a $7,200 judgment against the state in a civil-rights case.

The legal fees came to 2,250 percent more than the damages collected.

"My fees were close to $200,000, and they were reduced," civil-rights attorney Jack Schweigert said. "The state should have settled this case."

He said the state could have reduced costs by settling. Schweigert and accompanying attorney Rory Toomey will get the $156,306 in fees with an additional $5,600 in other costs also being paid by the state for the $7,200 judgment.

The lawsuit was brought by William Fielder, a boat owner who had filed a civil-rights lawsuit against a state harbor agent charging that his First Amendment rights were violated when the harbor agent sought a temporary restraining order against him following a contentious encounter at Keehi Small Boat Harbor, according to the state.

The jury found in favor of Fielder and awarded him the $7,200 in special damages, with no punitive damages awarded.

The additional $162,000 goes to attorney fees and costs.

"I think they are well deserved," Schweigert said.

"Mr. Fielder has a huge file with the harbor people, and to do a case like this is to bring up his entire his entire background," Schweigert said.

The civil-rights case came about after Fielder had been denied a permit to moor his boat in Keehi in 1999. He filed suit, and the state then issued a mooring permit while the court was in the process of ordering a permit to be granted, according to Schweigert.

The state had to pay $330,000 in damages for that action, according to Schweigert.

Then the restraining order was filed against Fielder.

"This was a civil-rights case," Schweigert said.

"We argued that the TRO was filed in retaliation for winning the case," Schweigert said.

In civil-rights cases, federal law allows a winning plaintiff to collect all attorney fees.

State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, Judiciary Committee chairwoman, said the Legislature is likely to approve the settlement as part of an omnibus $4.4 million legal settlement bill.