Court orders state to pay $400,000 in attorney fees from 2004 abortion lawsuit

COLUMBUS — A federal appeals court Thursday upheld a lower court ruling ordering the state of Ohio to pay Planned Parenthood nearly $400,000 in attorney fees from a 2004 lawsuit challenging a state law that unsuccessfully tried to limit use of the morning-after pill for inducing abortions.

Planned Parenthood won a preliminary injunction preventing the law from being enforced during more than a decade of litigation. The parties ultimately agreed to dismiss the lawsuit in 2016, after the Food and Drug Administration changed prescription guidelines for physicians, rendering the dispute moot.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati agreed with District Court Judge Susan J. Dlott, who found Planned Parenthood met the criteria of “prevailing party” that are needed to collect attorney fees from its opponent.

“Planned Parenthood easily meets this court’s requirement ... that a preliminary injunction warrants the award of attorneys’ fees only if it ‘represents an unambiguous indication of probable success on the merits’,” Circuit Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey wrote in a 19-page ruling released Thursday.

Read more: https://www.ohio.com/news/20190725/court-orders-state-to-pay-400000-in-attorney-fees-from-2004-abortion-lawsuit