(C) Arizona Mirror
This story was originally published by Arizona Mirror and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Hobbs, GOP leaders: Mayes owes attorney's fees for opioid settlement lawsuit • Arizona Mirror [1]

['Gloria Rebecca Gomez', 'David Abbott', 'Kelcie Moseley-Morris', 'More From Author', '- June', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar']

Date: 2024-06 

Gov. Katie Hobbs and GOP legislative leaders are teaming up to request that Attorney General Kris Mayes cough up their legal fees for a lawsuit she launched and recently lost over how the state’s share of a national opioid settlement should be spent.

State law requires that legal battles between government officials end in the recoupment of attorneys fees for the winning party, Hobbs, Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma said in the latest filing.

“In lawsuits between governmental entities, (Arizona law) mandates an award of reasonable attorneys’ fees,” the trio wrote.

The high-profile tiff kicked off earlier this month, when Hobbs and Republican leaders introduced a state budget that included the transfer of $115 million in opioid settlement money to the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. The fiscal plan was the result of months of negotiations focused on how to resolve a looming $1.4 billion deficit, and Mayes, who has been charged with overseeing the use of the settlement funding, was quick to lash out, accusing Republicans and Hobbs of illegally seizing the money to backfill budget holes.

That money, which is part of more than $1.1 billion Arizona is expected to receive over 18 years in a national case against opioid makers, is strictly earmarked for opioid remediation, including education, prevention and treatment efforts. Mayes argued that transferring the funds to the state prisons system would jeopardize Arizona’s future payouts.

Just a day after Hobbs signed the budget, Mayes went to court and won a temporary restraining order that froze the funding transfer.

But the order was later dissolved by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah, who reasoned that there’s no evidence the money has been improperly spent. The budget explicitly directs the state corrections department to use the money only on the treatment and care for individuals struggling with opioid abuse and in compliance with the terms of the settlement agreement.

Hannah did note, however, that if the funding violations occurred in the future, Mayes could return to court to rectify the issue then.

Hobbs & GOP leaders: You lost, pay our legal fees

On Thursday, Mayes sought to close the case, filing a motion for a voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit. No explanation was included and Richie Taylor, the AG’s spokesman, declined to comment.

In a motion for attorneys’ fees and costs on Friday, Hobbs, Petersen and Toma waved away Mayes’ capitulation as a bid to avoid repercussions for what they said was a “baseless” lawsuit.

“It is a clear attempt to try to avoid attorneys’ fees, the Attorney General’s voluntary dismissal does not absolve it from this liability,” they wrote.

And because Arizona law orders that the successful party’s legal costs be reimbursed when a lawsuit involves government entities, the trio are entitled to attorneys fees. That applies even though the merits of Mayes’ complaint were never actually considered by the court. Instead, Judge Hannah ruled that Mayes could not use the settlement terms to elevate her authority above that granted to the governor and legislature by state law to determine how state money is spent.

Hannah removed the order blocking the transfer of funds in part because he viewed her chances of succeeding on the merits of her case as “dubious”.

Whether or not Mayes got her day in court, Hobbs, Petersen, and Toma argued that they ultimately won the legal challenge. The trio’s goals were to dissolve the temporary restraining order and nullify Mayes’ complaint, and both of those were accomplished in the end. It doesn’t matter that Mayes filed a voluntary dismissal on her own — the outcome was still in their favor, they wrote.

“The dissolution of the TRO and eventual dismissal in this case (voluntary or otherwise) is the exact relief sought,” reads the brief.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://azmirror.com/briefs/hobbs-gop-leaders-mayes-owes-attorneys-fees-for-opioid-settlement-lawsuit/

Published and (C) by Arizona Mirror
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/azmirror/