VALDOSTA – The parents of Kendrick Johnson and their attorney will have to pay attorneys’ fees associated with lawsuits the family filed accusing multiple individuals of causing Johnson’s death, according to documents filed with the Superior Court of Lowndes County on Thursday.
Judge Richard Porter said he spent “considerable time” reviewing the case.
“I have concluded that the motions should be granted and that some amount would be awarded in each motion,” Porter stated in an email filed with the court.
A hearing to determine how much Kenneth and Jackie Johnson and their lawyer, Chevene King, will be required to pay will begin Monday, August 22 and is expected to last the entire week. The Johnsons cannot appeal the decision until an amount is determined and a final order is entered.
The Johnsons have called for protesters to gather at the courthouse before the start of Monday’s hearing, according to a Facebook post made by Jackie Johnson which characterized the hearings as a “miscarriage of justice” and “an attempt to forever silence (Kendrick Johnson’s) parents.”
The body of Kendrick Johnson was found upside down in a vertically-stored gym mat at Lowndes High School in January 2013. A state autopsy ruled the 17-year-old’s death accidental. The Johnson family insists their son died of foul play.
The Johnsons filed a $100 million civil suit in January 2015, which alleged local FBI agent Rick Bell, his two sons and 35 state and local officials either directly caused or covered up the cause of their son’s death.
The family then voluntarily dropped the suit in March, prompting the former defendants in the suit to file motions to recoup nearly $900,000 in attorneys’ fees. The Johnsons have until September 1 to refile the $100 million dollar suit, but will likely be ordered to pay attorneys’ fees before refiling.
The deadline to refile two additional suits the Johnsons filed against the Lowndes County Schools passed in May.
Lowndes County Schools has issued the following statement regarding the awarding of attorneys’ fees:
“The Lowndes County School System defendants are pleased with today’s ruling in the Superior Court of Lowndes County granting their motion for attorneys’ fees in the three cases filed by the Johnsons against them. Any further comment will be reserved pending the outcome of the hearings to determine the specific amount of attorneys’ fees awarded.”
Georgia law allows for payment of attorneys’ fees in civil suits when there exists “such a complete absence of any justiciable issue of law or fact that it could not be reasonably believed that a court would accept the asserted claim, defense, or other position.”
In June, the Department of Justice ended a nearly three year investigation of Johnson’s death and determined there was insufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges.
