The University Board of Supervisors won’t pay the contempt of court fine in its lawsuit against NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune and The Advocate until the case has gone through the process of appeals, LSU Lead Legal Counsel Shelby McKenzie said in an email Wednesday.
District Judge Janice Clark imposed the fine in August after the Board continually failed to comply with her April order to turn over documents from the search for a new LSU System president that resulted in F. King Alexander’s appointment.
Clark set the fine, which now totals nearly $65,000, at $500 per day from April 30, the date of her original ruling against the University.
Because University attorney Jimmy Faircloth agreed to turn the documents over to Clark at a hearing Monday, the rolling fine was suspended. This means the fine won’t continue to increase until the case has been through the appeals process, McKenzie said in an email.
Once the case has been finalized in District Court, the Board plans to appeal to the First District Court of Appeals, Faircloth said. He said those proceedings could likely take several more months.
A representative of the court said Faircloth delivered the documents under seal to Clark’s office Tuesday morning.
The Board of Supervisors may face further fees and penalties if Clark decides the University has unnecessarily defied her order to turn over the documents, said Loretta Mince, attorney for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune and The Advocate.
Mince said because Clark’s original ruling was in favor of the newspapers, the Board would have to pay any attorney fees the newspapers have accrued. There will be additional monetary penalties if Clark decides the University acted “unnecessarily or arbitrarily,” she said.
Clark scheduled the final trial for deciding attorney fees and penalties for 10 a.m. on Sept. 26.