Joe Miller must pay Alaska Dispatch $85k in legal fees, judge rules
Source: Alaska Dispatch
With his eye on a possible 2014 U.S. Senate run, Alaska Tea Party politico Joe Miller has been dealt a financial blow after losing a legal fight with the media, stemming from his last attempt to win a Senate seat three years ago.
On Friday, Alaska Superior Court Judge Stephanie Joannides ordered Miller to pay more than $85,000 of Alaska Dispatchs attorney fees and costs stemming from the news organizations 2010 lawsuit to make public Millers employment records during his time as a part-time government lawyer.
Alaska Dispatch had already won the suit, arguing that Millers records -- which detailed episodes of misconduct for which he was punished and barred from rehire for three years -- should be available for Alaska voters to review. At the time, Miller was a Republican candidate in a three-way race for the U.S. Senate. In the wake of the election, Miller -- a Yale Law School grad -- dragged out the litigation for nearly two more years.
Millers conduct, which included taking inconsistent positions, failing to disclose information during discovery, and his procedural filing, which the record did not support, all caused unnecessary delay and costs for both Alaska Dispatch and the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the judge wrote in her ruling.
Read more: https://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130519/judge-orders-joe-miller-pay-alaska-dispatch-85k-legal-fees