Utah
Judge orders legal fees paid to Utah newspaper that defended libel suit
SALT LAKE CITY — A businessman has been ordered to pay almost $400,000 to the weekly Utah newspaper he sued for libel.
It’s to cover the legal fees of the Millard County Chronicle Progress. In September, it became the first news outlet to successfully use a 2023 law meant to protect First Amendment activities.
The law also allows for victorious defendants to pursue their attorney fees and related expenses. The plaintiff, Wayne Aston, has already filed notice he is appealing the dismissal of his lawsuit.
As for the legal fees, Aston’s attorneys contended the newspaper’s lawyers overbilled. But Judge Anthony Howell, who sits on the bench in the state courthouse in Fillmore, issued an order Monday giving the Chronicle Progress attorneys everything they asked for – $393,597.19.
Jeff Hunt, a lawyer representing the Chronicle Progress, said in an interview Tuesday with FOX 13 News the lawsuit “was an existential threat” to the newspaper.
“It would have imposed enormous financial cost on the on the newspaper just to defend itself,” Hunt said.
“It’s just a very strong deterrent,” Hunt added, “when you get an award like this, from bringing these kinds of meritless lawsuits in the first place.”
Aston sued the Chronicle Progress in December 2023 after it reported on his proposal to manufacture modular homes next to the Fillmore airport and the public funding he sought for infrastructure improvements benefiting the project. Aston’s suit contended the Chronicle Progress published “false and defamatory statements.”
The suit asked for “not less” than $19.2 million.
In its dismissal motion, attorneys for the newspaper said the reporting was accurate and protected by a statute the Utah Legislature created in 2023 to safeguard public expression and other First Amendment activities.
Howell, in a ruling in September, said the 2023 law applies to the Chronicle Progress. He also repeatedly pointed out how the plaintiff didn’t dispute many facts reported by the newspaper.
SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah (KUTV) — An AMBER Alert was canceled after being issued for a 9-year-old boy out of South Salt Lake.
Marie Erika Lynn Marsh, 33, was accused of abducting a 9-year-old non-family member.
The alert was issued at 5:38 p.m. It was canceled just after 6 p.m.
An AMBER Alert was issued for Raymond Vigil, a 9-year-old boy abducted by Marie Erika Lynn Marsh, a 33-year-old non-family member. (Photo: AMBER Alert)
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SALT LAKE CITY — More fire restrictions are being added in Utah despite some recent help in its drought situation.
The Bureau of Land Management is reinstating Stage 1 fire restrictions on land it manages in Juab and Millard counties on Friday. State land managers issued a similar order for Juab and Sanpete counties, which applies to state lands and unincorporated private lands in the county.
It prohibits building or maintaining any open fire or campfires using solid fuels or any ash-producing fuel in the section of central Utah, except for fire rings or grills at developed campgrounds or day-use areas on public state lands that have a pressurized running water system.
Open fires are also permitted at permanently constructed fire pits at private residences, as long as they have a pressurized water system.
The order also bans any smoking except within a vehicle or enclosed area, as well as grinding, cutting or welding of metal, or operating or using any internal combustion engine without a spark-arresting device. Violation can result in fines, restitution fees and even jail time.
It matches several other Stage 1 restrictions already in place across the state. Most of the restrictions are located in southwest Utah, but recent restrictions have crept up into central Utah and parts of the Wasatch region, too.
Utah Fire Info maintains a list of active fire restrictions in the state.
Both new orders were signed amid some encouraging signs in Utah’s drought situation this week. The amount of extreme drought in the state dropped from 60% last week to 43% this week, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported earlier Thursday. Most of the improvement came in other parts of central Utah.
However, nearly 95% of the state remains in at least severe drought, and all other parts of the state remain in at least moderate drought. That means it’s still plenty dry for new fires.
Close to 250 different fires have been reported across the state this year, burning over 12,000 acres of land. The entire state is currently listed as having above-normal fire potential as well, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center.
“As fire danger continues to increase across the region, fire managers are asking the public to use caution with any activity that could spark a wildfire,” said Kayli Guild, fire prevention and communications coordinator for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
Fox News senior correspondent Alicia Acuna has the latest on two former Utah court clerks charged with harboring illegal aliens on ‘Special Report.’
Jennifer Joma and Lauren Moro, former Utah court clerks, plead not guilty to felony obstruction charges for aiding illegal immigrants. Federal prosecutors allege the clerks improperly accessed databases to identify undocumented individuals, then guided them out the courthouse’s back door to evade ICE agents. A trial is set for August.
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