Winners: Louisiana owes whopping $4.7M for abortion law challenge
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Lawyers who won a decision overturning a Louisiana abortion law say the state should pay them $4.7 million in fees and expenses.
Attorneys representing abortion clinics asked U.S. District Judge John deGravelles (duh-GRAV-uhlz) to approve the amount, and on Thursday, he gave the state's lawyers three weeks to respond.
The law would have required doctors who perform abortions to have permission to admit patients to a hospital within 30 miles (48 kilometers) of their clinic. DeGravelles said it was unconstitutional under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against a similar Texas law.
According to the motion filed Wednesday, 16 attorneys, clerks and paralegals put in nearly 6,900 hours of work over three years, at rates of $295 to $900 an hour. It all adds up to $4.5 million worth of work, plus $187,000 for expenses including travel, research, and shipping, the attorneys said.
Read more: http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_b83a3ece-36a9-11e7-8d00-6b5bc056aa07.html