Appeals Court Rules Kentucky Government Should Pay $270,000 in COVID Church Lockdown Case

A federal appeals court has ruled that Kentucky must pay over $270,000 in attorney fees to plaintiffs who sued the state over Democratic Governor Andy Beshear’s COVID-19 lockdown policies.

The plaintiffs, Randall Daniel, TJ Roberts, and Sally O’Boyle, sued the Beshear administration in 2020 over orders they received to quarantine after they attended an Easter church service, arguing that the administration had violated their constitutional rights.

A federal court granted a preliminary injunction barring the Beshear administration from enforcing its lockdown policies against the churchgoers, and then dismissed the lawsuit against the Beshear administration as a moot issue in a legally complex decision. The plaintiffs subsequently sought attorneys’ fees in the case, but the Beshear administration argued that the plaintiffs were not the prevailing legal party in the lawsuit.

On Monday, a panel of three judges on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district ruling (
pdf) that the Beshear administration should pay $272,142.50 to the plaintiffs for their attorney’s fees.

While the lawsuit named Beshear in his official capacity as governor, the repayment of the attorneys’ fees will come from public taxpayer funds.

“I know a lot of people who are outraged that the taxpayer is on the hook for Andy’s constitutional violation,” said TJ Roberts. “I share this outrage, but this outrage must be aimed at Beshear. If the people of Kentucky want to quit being taxed to pay for these court judgments, Kentucky must elect a governor who will actually follow the constitution.”

Following the appeals court decision, Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) responded on Twitter saying, “Kentucky Governor Beshear nailed for plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees over his unconstitutional ban of church services due to COVID. Too bad it comes out of the taxpayers’ pockets and not his.”

NTD News reached out to Beshear’s office for comment but did not receive a response before this article was published.

Kentucky’s Lockdowns

As COVID-19 cases began to emerge in the United States in early 2020, various state and local governments began advising people to remain at home and to practice social distancing, while declaring some businesses and places of worship nonessential and prohibiting in-person gatherings, including church services. Some restrictions have been lifted as vaccine distribution has grown.