Attorneys that represented the lesbian couple that successfully sued to overturn Alabama's same-sex marriage ban are asking the state to reimburse them for nearly $200,000 in legal fees and costs.
David Kennedy and Christine Hernandez filed a motion on Monday in U.S. District Court in Mobile seeking $99,175 and $98,535. Kennedy told AL.com that it would be up to U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade to approve the payout.
"There's precedent all over the country for it," Kennedy said. "Near about any time someone makes a constitutional challenge in terms of challenging whether the law itself is constitutional or not, the federal law allows for recovery of attorney fees if you're successful."
Two months ago, the landmark case came to its end as a retired Baldwin County Circuit Court Judge James Reid granted the adoption for Cari Searcy in Mobile County Probate Court of her wife's biological son, Khaya Searcy.
His approval of the measure ended a winding and politically fraught legal battle for Searcy and her wife Kim McKeand.
Kennedy and Hernandez represented the couple in court. They are asking for reimbursement of attorney fees at a cost of $275 per hour from April 2014 to July 2015.
"Litigating this case has come at a very high cost to each of us with little compensation other than the satisfaction with achieving our desired results, including, most importantly, the adoption and full recognition of the dignity of the Plaintiffs' marriage," Kennedy wrote in his affidavit.
Kennedy testified that "several notable national organizations and civil-rights lawyers" discouraged him and Hernandez from pursuing the case because it might create a bad legal precedent.
"In other words, many so-called 'experts' thought that we had little to no chance of success," Kennedy said in the affidavit. "Believing them to be wrong, we forged ahead anyway believing that we were 100 percent correct on the constitutional issues involved herein."
According to Kennedy, many lawyers in the Mobile market charge $325 to $375 per hour hour. In separate "particularly complex matters," he has charged up to $400 an hour.
Some bills already paid
Some attorney fees racked up in the same-sex marriage legal battle have already been paid.
AL.com reported in June that Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis has employed a half-dozen lawyers and spent more than $200,000 on same-sex marriage litigation while the office navigated conflicting orders from a federal judge and Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore.
Mobile County spokeswoman Nancy Johnson said later that the county received an additional $145,000 in attorney fees related to the same-sex marriage litigation, but that the last bill had not been turned over to the county.
This is the last remaining issue
Edward Bowron, an attorney with the firm Burr & Forman, testified in an affidavit that Kennedy and Hernandez' attorney fees were just. He said that he typically charges $325 per hour or more. Charging $275 per hour for the same-sex marriage case "is on the lower end of the spectrum for the work of this complexity and time required," he said.
By taking on the same-sex marriage case, Kennedy and Hernandez "took on a high amount of risk to the financial successes of their practices," Bowron said.
"Cases against public entities such as the State of Alabama are difficult and complex," Bowron said. "They frequently are protracted, usually involve difficult, complex and/or novel issues, and require a substantial commitment of time and resources."
Long battle
Searcy first filed paperwork in Mobile County Probate Court in 2011 to legally adopt the boy, whom she has raised since birth. After a brief hearing, Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis rejected the petition in April 2012, citing the state's ban on same-sex marriage. The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals later upheld that decision.
In February, a federal judge ruled that Searcy could not be denied her desire to adopt Khaya, clearing the way for same-sex marriage in Alabama.
But hours before the law legalizing same-sex marriage was to begin, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore ordered the state's probate judges to withhold same-sex marriage licenses pending the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the matter.
Searcy filed a second lawsuit after Davis indicated he would not give final approval of the adoption until after U.S. Supreme Court case resolved the same-sex marriage issue.
Subsequently, Davis recused himself from the case citing a second lawsuit, and the adoption was put into limbo until Moore could appoint a judge. The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in June, striking down any remaining barriers to Searcy's adoption.
"The adoption has gone through and Kim and Cari and their son have been able to finally move on with their life," Kennedy said. "This is the last remaining issue."
A spokeswoman for Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange was unavailable for comment.
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