Cheyenne, WY — Following a lengthy legal dispute, the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming has awarded attorneys’ fees totaling $156,000 to the litigation team representing Harry Pollak of Sheridan County. Mr. Pollak was represented by Institute for Free Speech Senior Attorney Brett Nolan and local counsel Seth Johnson.
Mr. Pollak initially filed suit against the Sheridan County School District in March 2022 after he was cut off from speaking for speaking critically about the superintendent at a school board meeting. The board cited a policy against discussing “personnel matters” as the reason for censoring him, and it called the police to escort him out of the building.
Last fall, the district court ruled in favor of Mr. Pollak, declaring that the school board violated his First Amendment rights and awarded him nominal damages of $17.91 (a symbolic amount referring to the year the First Amendment was ratified). The court also permanently enjoined the board from enforcing its policy to prevent speakers like Mr. Pollak who want to criticize school staff by name.
“We’re pleased with the court’s decision, which recognized the hundreds of hours and years of work that it takes to vindicate the rights of people like Harry Pollak in just one case of unconstitutional censorship,” said Institute for Free Speech Senior Attorney Brett Nolan. “But it’s unfortunate that the school district’s unlawful conduct will now be settled at taxpayer expense. No one should be afraid of listening to someone else’s viewpoint, and hopefully, this outcome will encourage school board officials everywhere to think twice before censoring speech they don’t like.”
To read the full fees order, Pollak v. Wilson, et al., click here. To read more about the case, please see the case page on our website here.
About the Institute for Free Speech
The Institute for Free Speech promotes and defends the political speech rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government guaranteed by the First Amendment.
