Louisiana has agreed to pay $3.8 million in legal fees to the Center for Reproductive Rights and other law firms in a long-running case that challenged the state’s restrictions on doctors performing abortions, according to a federal judge’s order on Friday.
U.S. District Judge John deGravelles in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, approved the fee settlement between Louisiana and the plaintiffs, who sued in 2014 over a state law placing restrictions on doctors who perform the procedure. The U.S. Supreme Court in June 2020 struck down a Louisiana law that required doctors performing abortions to have certain privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of a clinic.
The plaintiff clinics, whose lawyers included teams from Morrison & Foerster, O’Melveny & Myers and the New Orleans firm Rittenberg, Samuel & Phillips, last year sought $8.4 million in fees for legal services provided in the case. The Center for Reproductive Rights and Morrison & Foerster served as co-lead counsel.
“It is the desire of the parties to fully resolve all claims for attorney’s fees, litigation expenses and costs that were, could have been, or have been made in this case,” according to the settlement that was signed this week.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs either declined to comment or did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Two lawyers involved in the case at the Louisiana attorney general’s office on Friday did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Louisiana’s lawyers disputed the reasonableness of the plaintiffs’ fee claims.
The Supreme Court is soon expected to issue a ruling on whether to uphold or curb the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a national right to an abortion. A leaked draft ruling in a Mississippi case at the court showed the court’s conservative wing was poised to strike down the decision.
Large law firms including Morrison & Foerster and others are mobilizing pro bono and other efforts in preparation for a ruling that overturns Roe v. Wade.
The case is June Medical Services LLC et al v. Courtney Phillips, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana. No. 3:14-CV-00525-JWD-RLB.