Attorneys: Joplin R-8 owes us $200,000 plus in fees, expenses

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit over a May 2015 North Middle School field trip to Victory Ministries and Sports Complex received $1 apiece in Judge Douglas Harpool's final judgment.

The attorneys are wanting much, much more.

Documents filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, reveal four lawyers who represented Jane Doe and her children are asking for $207,815 in fees and $3,746.45 for a total of $211,281.45.

Harpool has the final say on the fees and expenses.

The fees breakdown is as follows:

Arthur Benson of Benson and Associates, Kansas City, the local firm representing Jane Doe, charged $500 an hour for a total of $31,550, and asked for $3,746.15, Benson took the leading in handling the depositions of former North Middle School and current Joplin High School Principal Brandon Eggleston, one of the defendants in the lawsuit. He also handled the depositions of representatives of Joplin R-8 School District and Victory Ministries and reviewed the briefs in support and in opposition to the district's cross-motion for summary judgment.

Jamie Kathryn Lansford of Benson and Associates charged $315 an hour for 57 hours for a total of $17,955.

David A. Niose, legal director of the American Humanist Association Legal Center in Washington, D. C., an expert in establishment clause cases charged $425 an hour for a total of $19,550.

Monica Miller, senior counsel of the attorneys, charging $138,750.

The fees paid to Miller and Niose will not go to the attorneys, but to the AHA's non-profit legal center helping the organization to pursue other cases similar to the one in Joplin.

Harpool's final order is printed below:

ORDER AND JUDGMENT

The Court, having entered its March 9, 2017, Order (Doc. 58) granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment and overruling Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment now ORDERS that the Clerk of the Court shall enter judgment, in accordance with the Court’s prior order in this matter, as follows:

PLAINTIFFS CLAIM FOR DECLARATORY RELIEF

It Is Hereby Ordered, Adjudged, And Decreed that the Court declares that the actions of Defendants in organizing, sponsoring, and conducting school trips to Victory Ministries and Sports Complex under the facts and circumstances herein presented violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

PLAINTIFFS CLAIM FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

It Is Further Ordered, Adjudged, And Decreed that Defendants are prohibited and permanently enjoined from organizing, sponsoring, or conducting any field trip, event or excursion (hereinafter “activity”), other than activities of student-run religious clubs as permitted by the Equal Access Act, to Victory Ministries and Sports Complex or any other religious venue, for which any of the following conditions exist:

1. Participation in the activity requires a student participant, or parents of a student participant, to consent to be, or actually be, subjected to messages, sermons, proselytization, evangelism, testimony, study or sermon advancing religion or any religious organization;

2. Participation in the activity requires a student participant, or parents of a student participant, to consent to the use of the participant’s image and/or name in the advertising, promotion, or informational materials advancing religion or any religious organization;

3. Participation in the activity is, or may be, limited, restricted, allowed, or denied based on the participant’s submission to, or agreement with, the views, beliefs, faith or teaching of any religion or any religious organization.