Animal-rights protest lawsuit settled

SALT LAKE CITY — Two federal lawsuits filed by an animal-rights group that protested mink farms in Morgan County last year have been settled.

Morgan County will pay legal costs of $20,000 and the Utah Department of Transportation will pay legal costs totaling $19,750 involved in the lawsuits filed by the Salt Lake Animal Advocacy Movement.

The group had sought permits for protests to be held in November 2009. However, the city of Morgan quickly enacted anti-picketing ordinances that made pickets stay at least 1,000 feet away from residences. The group also tried to get a mass gathering permit and learned that it would have to pay $400 to cover any law enforcement costs.

UDOT also would not give the group a permit to march on state Highway 66 unless it got a $1 million insurance policy, according to the group's attorney, Brian Barnard.

The group wanted to fight these requirements because its members believed their constitutional rights to free speech were being violated. However, after a meeting with U.S. Judge David Sam, some of the Morgan issues were resolved on Nov. 27, 2009. The Morgan County Council waived the fees, provided law enforcement for free and changed the picketing ordinance to say that protesters could not come within 100 feet of a residence.

UDOT did not require the insurance policy for this particular march and since then has agreed to review its policies, according to Barnard.

— Linda Thomson