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eBook details

• Title: Daily Gazette Co. V. West Virginia Development Office
• Author : West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
• Release Date : January 19, 1999
• Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
• Pages : * pages
• Size : 89 KB

Description

The appellants herein and defendants below, the West Virginia Development Office and its director, Thomas C. Burns [hereinafter collectively referred to as "the Development Office"], appeal from an order entered January 29, 1998, by the Circuit Court of Kanawha County in an underlying action brought pursuant to the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act [hereinafter "FOIA"], W. Va. Code § 29B-1-1, et seq. In its order, the circuit court awarded attorney's fees to the appellee herein and plaintiff below, the Daily Gazette Company, Inc. [hereinafter "the Gazette"], finding that the Gazette had been successful in its action against the Development Office to obtain the disclosure of numerous public records which the Development Office claimed were protected from FOIA disclosure. On appeal to this Court, the Development Office contends that the circuit court erred in awarding the full amount of attorney's fees requested by the Gazette based upon the Gazette's alleged limited success in its FOIA action against the Development Office and this Court's announcement of new points of law in a prior appeal of this matter. Having reviewed the arguments of the parties, the record presented for our consideration on appeal, and the pertinent authorities, we find that the circuit court did not err in awarding the Gazette the full amount of attorney's fees requested in this case. W. Va. Code § 29B-1-7 (1992) (Repl. Vol. 1998) specifically mandates the award of attorney's fees to parties who have been successful in bringing lawsuits to enforce the provisions of the FOIA. Moreover, we conclude that the attorney's fees authorized by W. Va. Code § 29B-1-7 are not subject to reduction if the successful party fails to win every argument advanced in the FOIA proceedings or if the governing court announces a new point of law in its decision of the controversy. Accordingly, we affirm the decision of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County.

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