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A federal appeals court on Thursday set aside an order awarding $442,191 in attorney fees to an English instructor at Umpqua Community College once forced to use the word "unaccredited" when referring to degrees she earned from a Christian fundamentalist university.
Melinda Benton, who has taught at the Winchester college since 1996, filed suit in 2001, seeking an injunction barring the state from enforcing a law that prohibited using degrees from unaccredited schools when applying for a job.
The law had been passed to protect students from instructors using bogus degrees obtained from diploma mills. In Benton's case, however, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan ruled that the state Office of Degree Authorization took action against the UCC instructor because of bias toward Bob Jones University, where she earned undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Benton received $1 in damages, but Hogan also awarded attorney fees. Hogan justified the award by saying Benton's reputation had been harmed and that the public would benefit from the issues raised in the lawsuit.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, saying the nominal damage award given to Benton did not justify the awarding of attorney fees. The court said Benton had to show the lawsuit achieved "other tangible results" besides the $1 award to qualify for the added fees.
"The finding that (Benton's) rights were violated and the accompanying judgment cannot be the 'something more' required for an award of attorney's fees and costs here," Judge John Rhodes wrote in the decision by a three-judge panel.
Originally, the state asked that Benton be fired. Later, it allowed her to remain on the UCC faculty if she used the word "unaccredited" in any references to her degrees, including the listing in the school catalog.
In 2001, UCC placed an asterisk next to Benton's name in the faculty listings in the catalog, where it detailed that she earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., and a teaching certificate from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.
A footnote explained that Bob Jones University was an unaccredited institution.
The school, founded in 1927, refuses to seek accreditation, claiming that would violate a First Amendment protection against laws governing religion.
Benton's lawsuit was filed after Alan Contreras, head of the state's Office of Degree Authorization, notified her that she had violated state law by using her degrees from Bob Jones University as qualification to teach at UCC.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, claimed Contreras took action against Benton out of bias toward Bob Jones University. The school barred black students until 1970 and forbade interracial dating until shortly before the lawsuit was filed.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, then-candidate George W. Bush made a trip to the university, a visit that was criticized because of some of the school's controversial beliefs. Because the action against Benton and her degrees came shortly after that visit, her attorney argued the state had retaliated against the religious beliefs of the university and its students.
The quality of Benton's teaching has never come into question. She has taught various writing classes and last year took over as journalism advisor for the campus newspaper, The Mainstream. Benton could not be reached at the school for comment. She is not teaching classes this summer.
Melinda Benton, who has taught at the Winchester college since 1996, filed suit in 2001, seeking an injunction barring the state from enforcing a law that prohibited using degrees from unaccredited schools when applying for a job.
The law had been passed to protect students from instructors using bogus degrees obtained from diploma mills. In Benton's case, however, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan ruled that the state Office of Degree Authorization took action against the UCC instructor because of bias toward Bob Jones University, where she earned undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Benton received $1 in damages, but Hogan also awarded attorney fees. Hogan justified the award by saying Benton's reputation had been harmed and that the public would benefit from the issues raised in the lawsuit.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, saying the nominal damage award given to Benton did not justify the awarding of attorney fees. The court said Benton had to show the lawsuit achieved "other tangible results" besides the $1 award to qualify for the added fees.
"The finding that (Benton's) rights were violated and the accompanying judgment cannot be the 'something more' required for an award of attorney's fees and costs here," Judge John Rhodes wrote in the decision by a three-judge panel.
Originally, the state asked that Benton be fired. Later, it allowed her to remain on the UCC faculty if she used the word "unaccredited" in any references to her degrees, including the listing in the school catalog.
In 2001, UCC placed an asterisk next to Benton's name in the faculty listings in the catalog, where it detailed that she earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., and a teaching certificate from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.
A footnote explained that Bob Jones University was an unaccredited institution.
The school, founded in 1927, refuses to seek accreditation, claiming that would violate a First Amendment protection against laws governing religion.
Benton's lawsuit was filed after Alan Contreras, head of the state's Office of Degree Authorization, notified her that she had violated state law by using her degrees from Bob Jones University as qualification to teach at UCC.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, claimed Contreras took action against Benton out of bias toward Bob Jones University. The school barred black students until 1970 and forbade interracial dating until shortly before the lawsuit was filed.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, then-candidate George W. Bush made a trip to the university, a visit that was criticized because of some of the school's controversial beliefs. Because the action against Benton and her degrees came shortly after that visit, her attorney argued the state had retaliated against the religious beliefs of the university and its students.
The quality of Benton's teaching has never come into question. She has taught various writing classes and last year took over as journalism advisor for the campus newspaper, The Mainstream. Benton could not be reached at the school for comment. She is not teaching classes this summer.
