OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A federal judge has ordered Creighton University in Omaha to pay nearly $500,000 in legal fees for a deaf medical student who successfully sued the school for discrimination.
Michael Argenyi sued Creighton in 2009, after taking leave from the institution’s medical school when it refused his requests for interpreters - even though he offered to pay for them himself.
Last year, a federal jury in Omaha found that Creighton had discriminated against Argenyi, and a federal judge ruled that Creighton must provide Argenyi with special equipment and interpreters to allow him to finish his last two years of medical school. The judge did not require the university to reimburse Argenyi for $110,000 he spent in his first two years of medical school for interpreters and special transcription equipment.
In March, Argenyi’s lawyers filed a motion seeking nearly $621,000 in legal fees, to which Creighton lawyers objected, saying the amount was inflated.
But an attorney for Argenyi, Mary Vargas, argued that the case spanned nearly five years and that five attorneys - some from disability rights organizations - put more than 2,300 billable hours of work into the case.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp awarded $478,000 in attorney and legal fees, reducing Agenyi’s original request to account for his lawyers’ time spent on unsuccessful issues.
“For five years, Michael Argenyi fought for the right to access his education with a quiet dignity and persistence,” Vargas said Friday. “In yesterday’s decision, the federal court described Michael’s victory as ’significant.’ That means a great deal to him and to all of us who stood with him all these years.”
An attorney for Creighton, Scott P. Moore, said the university is weighing whether to appeal both the decision favoring Argenyi and the awarding of legal fees.
“We believe that the award of attorneys’ fees exceeded what the plaintiff was entitled to,” Moore said.
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