UFBDH v. Davis County Clerk
Utah Supreme Court
175 P.3d 1036 (2007)
After Davis County voters approved water fluoridation in 2000, opponents petitioned to place the same question on the 2002 ballot, and the County Clerk (defendant) allowed it; UFBDH (plaintiff), a pro-fluoridation nonprofit, sued arguing this misused the citizen-initiative process, winning a district court ruling that the re-vote question was an improper "misuse [of] the people's direct legislative power," but the district court denied UFBDH's motion for attorneys' fees under the private attorney general exception to the American Rule.
Whether a prevailing plaintiff may recover attorneys' fees if the lawsuit vindicates a strong or societally important public policy, and the necessary costs of doing so transcend the individual plaintiff's pecuniary interest to an extent requiring subsidization.