PARKERSBURG — The organization that sued the City of Parkersburg over City Council’s recitation of the Lord’s prayer prior to meetings was awarded nearly $60,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs.
The order was filed Thursday by U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. of the Southern District of West Virginia, who in May issued an injunction prohibiting council from saying the prayer at its meetings and indicating that by doing so the council “wrapped itself in a single faith.” The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation filed the suit in 2018 with two of its local members, Daryl Cobranchi and Eric Engle, who said they felt uncomfortable and pressured to participate in the prayer when they attended council meetings.
The city and the plaintiffs filed motions regarding attorneys’ fees earlier this year. After considering their arguments, Copenhaver awarded the plaintiffs $58,031.40 for the work of two Foundation staff attorneys, one outside attorney and one West Virginia attorney acting as local counsel, as well as a paralegal.
The court also awarded $971.28 in “undisputed costs.”
“We are pleased that the First Amendment has been upheld in this case, that Parkersburg citizens who are not Christian or religious will no longer be treated like second-class citizens and that we have been able to recoup our costs,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freedom from Religion Foundation co-president, in a release from the organization.
The May decision awarded Cobranchi and Engle each the $1 in nominal damages they sought.
Parkersburg Finance Director Eric Jiles said the city’s insurance carrier will pay the costs. The city has paid a deductible toward the case, but that figure was not immediately available late Thursday afternoon.
The release noted Cobranchi and Engle will receive “Freethinker of the Year” awards and Cobranchi will be featured at the foundation’s annual convention in San Antonio later this month.
City Council altered its prayer practice after receiving a letter from the foundation in 2015, reciting the prayer before the meeting was called to order and having no specific council member lead it or invite people in the chambers to participate. Copenhaver’s ruling said this still differed from other legislative prayer upheld in previous court decisions, since it was a specifically Christian prayer and was not led by a member of the clergy or public.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs cited instances where former Council President John Reed still motioned for some people to stand, which Reed said was not meant to require public participation, and former Councilman Eric Barber allegedly glared at those who did not stand for the prayer at one meeting.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.