Minority Leader Boehner Awarded $1M in Fees in Phone-Taping Suit

Lawyers for House Minority Leader John Boehner have been awarded more than $1 million in attorney fees in his lawsuit over a leaked phone call.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan awarded the fees to Boehner’s lawyers in his successful suit for violation of his privacy rights, reports Politico’s blog The Crypt.

Boehner sued U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., for leaking a taped telephone call in which Boehner and other Republican leaders discussed an ethics case against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the Associated Press reports. A Florida couple had taped the call in 1996, and it was eventually turned over to McDermott. He, in turn, gave the tape to two newspapers.

Boehner was represented by lawyers at Jones Day, reports The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. They prevailed on a claim that McDermott had violated the federal wiretap statute, entitling Boehner to fees, Hogan ruled in his opinion (PDF posted by The BLT).

McDermott was represented by Kirkland & Ellis. The firm had argued that Boehner was entitled to lower fees because he did not prevail on the core claim that there is no First Amendment protection for those who disclose unlawfully obtained information in matters of public concern.