The Indiana Supreme Court threw out an award of more than $237,000 in attorney fees to Outfront Media, and other defendants in a lawsuit over seven billboards outside Utica, Indiana. Justices found the Clark Circuit Court lacked a basis for awarding fees to the parties who sued a regional development entity that sought to restrict billboards along State Road 265 just north of Louisville.

The Indiana Lawyer reports that after Outfront received local zoning permission to put up seven billboards along the roadway, River Ridge Development Authority sued to block the signs. While the litigation was pending, the Indiana Department of Transportation designated the road a scenic byway, which restricted billboards. River Ridge voluntarily dismissed its suit after the scenic byway designation.

Outfront and the other defendants moved to recover attorney fees. The trial court granted them $237,440.63 in fees, finding the award of fees warranted under a common-law obdurate behavior exception to the American Rule, Indiana’s statutory General Recovery Rule and the court’s inherent authority to sanction parties.

The Indiana Court of Appeals, had previously reversed the award of fees and Outfront and the other original defendants appealed to the State Supreme Court.  The defendants argued that the original case had been “wildly untimely,” and resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary legal fees accrued by the defendants when the RRDA voluntarily dismissed the suit nearly a year into the case.

The justices agreed with the appellate court in a unanimous ruling in River Ridge Development Authority v. Outfront Media, LLC, David Watkins, No Moore, Inc., the Schlosser Family Limited Partnership, the Town of Utica, and the Utica Board of Zoning Appeals,  finding the trial court abused its discretion in its award of fees.

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