Mapleton's $9,000 settlement of suit questioned

MAPLETON, Utah County — Some residents want to know why city officials agreed to pay $9,000 to settle a First Amendment lawsuit with an anonymous plaintiff.

"We questioned the right to know our accuser," Mayor Brian Wall said at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

The city could have discovered who the mysterious "C. Johnson" is, Wall said, but it would have cost the city as much as $40,000 to learn his identity. The city recently settled the federal lawsuit brought by Johnson and attorney Brian Barnard for $9,000 in legal fees, while agreeing to caution other Utah County cities to look at their political sign ordinances. The council also must modify its ordinance.

Barnard brought the suit after warning the city twice that its political sign ordinance restricted free speech by setting time limits on when political signs could be displayed on private property.

"This came out of the blue," Wall said. "(Johnson) never came before us."

Had the accuser come to the city first, the outcome could have been the same, but it wouldn't have cost the city attorney fees, the mayor said.

Officials say they have never enforced the ordinance.

"It seems like (Barnard) is picking on unsophisticated cities," Councilman Mike Nelson said.

Councilman Jim Lundberg dubbed the litigation a nuisance lawsuit in which cities are willing to pay to make it go away. At least one councilman questioned whether C. Johnson even existed.

The council continued a public hearing on rewriting the ordinance until after the Planning Commission looks at it in August.

— Rodger L. Hardy