Liberty Counsel will appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals a district court’s denial of attorney’s fees and expenses in Maryville Baptist Church, et al v. Andy Beshear. While Maryville Baptist Church and its pastor Dr. Jack Roberts prevailed in their lawsuit against Governor Andy Beshear’s unconstitutional church restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, District Judge David J. Hale has ruled for the second time in this case that the church was not a prevailing party and is not entitled to attorney’s fees and costs. Liberty Counsel previously appealed to the Sixth Circuit for fees where the Appeals Court essentially instructed Judge Hale to award prevailing party status to the church, but he has again denied it.
When Judge Hale first denied prevailing party status and subsequent fees, Liberty Counsel appealed to the Sixth Circuit which ruled 3-0 to send the case back to the district court directing it to reconsider its decision in light of the results from a similar case, which also involved the same church. In Roberts v. Neace, several congregants of Maryville Baptist Church sued Gov. Beshear over the lockdown order and had won their case and were awarded attorney’s fees. The Sixth Circuit noted that plaintiffs obtaining a preliminary injunction entitled them to prevailing party status. In fact, the Sixth Circuit stated that Gov. Beshear ended his church service ban because of the injunctions obtained by Liberty Counsel’s Maryville case.
In remanding the Maryville case back to the district court, the three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit wrote, “Roberts addressed Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions, preliminary injunctions, mootness, and attendance at Maryville Baptist Church—all features of this case. We vacate and remand for the district court to apply Roberts in the first instance.”
Liberty Counsel argues that the governor’s executive orders clearly targeted religious services and that such a gross violation of the First Amendment entitles Maryville’s attorney’s fees and costs be paid by the state.
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On Easter Sunday 2020, Kentucky State Police troopers came to Maryville Baptist Church to fulfill Governor Beshear’s threat to target anyone who attended a church service against his in-person worship ban. The church was allowing a small number of people to assemble inside its 700-seat sanctuary, spread far apart, and had also set up speakers in its parking lot for “drive-in” worship. The police wrote down license plate numbers and placed quarantine notices on every car, including those containing people who had come for the drive-in service. All worshippers whose cars were noticed in the parking lot on Easter Sunday also received a letter from Gov. Beshear’s administration demanding their agreement to take their temperatures and report every day to the county health authority, not attend church, work, school, stores, and other public places; not travel outside the county; not travel outside of Kentucky without prior approval; and not travel by public, commercial, or emergency conveyance such as a bus, taxi, airplane, train, or boat without prior approval.
In 2020, Liberty Counsel won a series of preliminary injunctions that in combination blocked all aspects of Gov. Beshear’s church lockdown order. The order had prohibited all religious services while allowing many other secular gatherings. With the injunctions in place, Maryville Baptist Church and Dr. Roberts were allowed to resume both parking lot services and in-person services.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The Sixth Circuit clearly determined Maryville Baptist Church and its pastor Dr. Jack Roberts are entitled to attorney’s fees and expenses. Liberty Counsel secured the desired relief on behalf of Maryville Baptist Church four years ago where they are free to worship without the intrusion of unconstitutional restrictions. They should finally be awarded prevailing party status and the attorney’s fees and costs to which they are entitled.”
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