Judge denies attorney-fee award to dental group

FARMINGTON — A 2nd District judge has denied an award of $145,000 in attorney fees to Utahns for Better Dental Health-Davis Inc.

The award would have been paid by the last defendant in the 2002 case, Davis County Clerk Steve Rawlings.

But 2nd District Judge Glen Dawson did not find that Rawlings acted inappropriately in approving a revote on fluoridation in Davis County.

Utahns for Better Dental Health originally requested $45,000 in attorney fees, Rawlings said. But after Dawson rejected the award in 2003, the group appealed the decision to the Utah Court of Appeals, which sent the case back to Dawson for further findings in August 2005.

That's when the claim for attorney fees was made for about $145,000.

"I really question the expenses," Davis County Attorney Mel Wilson said.

Wilson said the county retained a private attorney, David Thompson, to handle the case during and after the appeal. Thompson charged a total of about $11,000, Wilson said.

But more than two years have passed since the original request for fees was denied, said David Irvine, who represents Utahns for Better Dental Health. The original request was filed in November 2002.

And in the intervening time, there have been briefs and research and an appeal to the Utah Court of Appeals, he said. Over the next year to 18 months, the fee request could expand by $75,000, he said.

Utahns for Better Dental Health, which favors fluoridation of drinking water, was successful in pushing for voter approval of fluoridation in the 2000 election, capturing 52 percent of the vote.

Fluoridation was ordered to be implemented in most Davis County cities in 2001. Later that year a group opposing fluoridation brought an initiative petition to Rawlings to call for a revote on the fluoridation issue.

Utahns for Better Dental Health successfully argued that the revote was illegal, because the petition should have been filed as a referendum and not an initiative, Irvine said.

Dawson sided with the pro-fluoride group in September 2002 and ordered that the revote be pulled from the ballot, Rawlings said.

After the revote was pulled, Utahns for Better Dental Health asked that attorney fees be awarded to the group — an argument that will continue despite Dawson's Feb. 17 memorandum decision denying attorney fees for the group.

Irvine said he plans to file an appeal with the Utah Supreme Court, asking again that attorney fees be awarded.

Private citizens who step forward and succeed in enacting laws through petitions should have their decisions respected, Irvine said.

"When should they be entitled to recover their attorney's fees?" he asked.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com