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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The typical situation under the "American Rule" is that
each party bears the cost of its own attorney's fees. Under the "English
Rule," the losing party bears the cost of its own attorney fees, PLUS the
cost of the prevailing party's legal fees. The only typical circumstances
in the USA where one party bears the cost of the prevailing party's attorney
fees is when a contract or statute authorizes an exception to the so-called
American Rule and affirmatively imposes the prevailing party's attorney fees
upon the loser. An example of statutes that authorize the
shifting of attorney fees are employment discrimination statutes for age, sex,
race and religious discrimination, (known as the ADEA and Title VII), and for
violation of one's constitutional rights, (42 U.S.C. sec. 1983). I believe
there are some environemntal laws that also provide for fee shifting. But
the typical situation is that each party bears their own legal
fees.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>To my knowledge, there is no contract between Dr. Weitz
and the MSD that is the basis for this action and would provide for a
fee-shifting arrangement. Likewise, the state statutes governing school
district levies and elections have no provision, so far as I know, that switches
the burden of both sides attorney's fees to the losing party.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>So in this case, probably both parties are going to be
bearing the cost of their own attorney's fees. And probably both will be
"paying big time."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Bruce Livingston</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=the_ivies3@yahoo.com href="mailto:the_ivies3@yahoo.com">Tom Ivie</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Moscow Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, July 25, 2007 3:47
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Moscow School
Board Won't Negotiate</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Can't the "winning" side ask the court for attorney's fees to
be paid by the "losing" party? If so, regardless of who loses, someone
could end up paying big time. <BR><BR><B><I>Tom Hansen <<A
href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com">thansen@moscow.com</A>></I></B> wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">Dedicated
to the Moscow School Board.<BR><BR>In the words of Joan Baez . .
.<BR><BR>"Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'round"<BR><A
href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/AGLN_Baez.mp3">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/AGLN_Baez.mp3</A><BR><BR>>From
today's (July 25, 2007) Moscow-Pullman Daily News -<BR><BR>"'This
negotiation would have to be with the 56.7 percent of people that<BR>voted
for it,' she [Margaret Dibble, board vice chairwoman]
said.<BR><BR>---------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>Moscow
school board won't negotiate<BR>MSD wants courts to decide outcome of levy
lawsuit; next hearing postponed<BR>until Oct. <BR><BR>By Kate Baldwin, Daily
News staff writer<BR><BR>Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - Page Updated at 12:00:00
AM<BR><BR>The Moscow School Board will return to court in October for the
next hearing<BR>in its $7.6 million lawsuit despite listening to appeals
Tuesday night from<BR>patrons who want the district to seek a
settlement.<BR><BR>"The delay makes things difficult, but we're not afraid
of the ultimate<BR>decision of the court," said Margaret Dibble, board vice
chairwoman. "We<BR>certainly believe in the law. We want to do the right
thing and we believe<BR>that is abiding by the will of the
electorate."<BR><BR>Voters approved a $1.9 million increase to the
district's indefinite<BR>supplemental levy March 27. The increase brought
the total amount of the<BR>levy to $7.6 million.<BR><BR>Moscow dentist
Gerald Weitz challenged that election with a lawsuit he filed<BR>on May 4.
He also threatened the full levy amount because his lawsuit<BR>alleged the
district failed to follow state law.<BR><BR>The district lost an attempt to
dismiss the case at its last court hearing<BR>June 29. The same day, the
district's attorneys filed a motion for summary<BR>judgement and received a
hearing date for Aug. 24, when the judge would hear<BR>the facts of the case
and issue a ruling.<BR><BR>MSD attorney Amy White sent a notice to the
district Monday with information<BR>that Weitz's attorneys have filed a
similar motion. The legal procedure<BR>extended the deadlines and required
the hearing date to be pushed back. With<BR>Second District Judge John
Bradbury unavailable for a hearing in September,<BR>the earliest date
available for the hearing is Oct. 5.<BR><BR>"The district continues to
remain optimistic that they will prevail on this<BR>matter and firmly
believes that they complied with all the legalities for<BR>this election,"
White wrote.<BR><BR>About 14 people attended Tuesday's meeting and many
participated in a heated<BR>exchange that brought people out of their seats
as they argued for and<BR>against the possibility of negotiating a
settlement.<BR><BR>The board's decision to stay within the court system
upset Moscow resident<BR>Don Harter, who spoke in favor of his plan for
conciliation. His proposal<BR>would require the district to rerun its levy
as an ordinary supplemental<BR>levy that would need to be repeated annually
or biannually in exchange for a<BR>legal agreement from Weitz to drop his
lawsuit.<BR><BR>"You have more options and more control than your opponent,"
he said.<BR><BR>Harter predicted a winning outcome would lead to a worse
situation because<BR>he believes Weitz would appeal and carry the process
out another 18 months.<BR><BR>"If you win, you'll immediately go into
prayer," he said.<BR><BR>Harter also predicted that if Weitz won, the
district would have to pursue<BR>its option to appeal, which he equated to
"you shoot yourself in the foot by<BR>keeping in turmoil another 18 months."
He warned that staying within the<BR>court system could keep escalating the
case.<BR><BR>"Good luck with your legal expenses to see it all the way
through the<BR>Supreme Court," he said.<BR><BR>Moscow property owner Isabel
Bond spoke about her concerns with the levy<BR>while she offered her support
for Weitz's agenda to have more<BR>professional-technical education in the
district.<BR><BR>"I'd like to see some negotiation," she said. "I'd like to
see the taxpayers<BR>have a real say in what's going on."<BR><BR>Bond didn't
think voters understood the election and she questioned the<BR>election
because she said there was a low voter turnout.<BR><BR>Moscow resident and
former teacher Bob Weisel stood up to support the<BR>election
results.<BR><BR>"I voted in that levy. I knew what I was voting for," he
said. "Anybody that<BR>didn't understand what they were voting for should've
asked somebody."<BR><BR>He also spoke to comments Bond raised about Weitz's
educational philosophy.<BR><BR>"For some strange reason, we've got somebody
who feels he knows more about<BR>education than the people we hire to run"
the district, he said.<BR><BR>Moscow parent Michael Jennings was concerned
that negotiating with Weitz<BR>would cause instability in funding that would
eventually "deconstruct" the<BR>schools.<BR><BR>"I want to encourage the
board to stay with the law, to move forward within<BR>the legal system," he
said.<BR><BR>Jennings brought up Weitz's tumultuous history with the
district, including<BR>both his time on the board and his resignations from
it at times of<BR>disagreement.<BR><BR>"He's a bully," Jennings said. "He's
held our children hostage to blackmail,<BR>to wanting to do it his
way."<BR><BR>Board chairwoman Dawn Fazio had to call the room to order as
the comments<BR>from opposing sides intensified. She pointed to the
arguments as an example<BR>of why "we can't resolve this here."<BR><BR>At
the end of the night, Dibble said the district followed its legal
counsel<BR>and held "a perfectly good, democratic election."<BR><BR>"This
negotiation would have to be with the 56.7 percent of people that<BR>voted
for it," she
said.<BR><BR>---------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>Seeya
round town, Moscow.<BR><BR>Tom Hansen<BR>Moscow, Idaho<BR><BR>"I think one
of the best ways to support education is to make successful<BR>private
schools like Logos prosper through tax exemption."<BR><BR>- Donovan Arnold
(July 11,
2005)<BR><BR><BR><BR>=======================================================<BR>List
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<BR>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>=======================================================<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR><BR>Tom
& Liz Ivie
<P>
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