The Legislative Management Committee has voted to reimburse State Senator Janne Myrdal (R-Edinburg) more than $48,000 in legal fees she incurred after a constituent sued her for blocking him from her Facebook page.
Myrdal was sued by Mitchell Sanderson of Park River, claiming she violated his first amendment rights. Myrdal said this was her persona Facebook page. A court threw out the lawsuit, awarding Myrdal nearly $5000 in legal fees. And the state Supreme Court upheld the ruling.
Senate Majority Leader David Hogue (R-Minot) made the motion for reimbursement. Hogue presented a letter from a Missouri state representative, who faced a similar lawsuit. He said the state defended that representative from the outset.
"That did not happen in this case," Hogue said. "I think it should have happened."
Hogue said he has visited with Attorney General Drew Wrigley, and he said Wrigley agrees that for any similar cases, the state will step forward.
House Majority Leader Mike Lefor (R-Dickinson) supported the reimbursement.
"It's difficult to recruit people to serve in the Legislative Assembly," Lefor said. "If we have an opportunity to defend our branch of government, we hould do so every time, and defend those who, through no fault of their own, has incurred more than $48,000 worth of legal expenses, in what has been proven to be a frivolous lawsuit."
Representative Joshua Boschee (D-Fargo) voted against reimbursement. He told the Committee he was torn about it.
"My concern is, if the legal argument was that someone was acting in their personal capacity, and not in their professional, Legislative or policy-making capacity, then why are we, as the policy making entity, reimbursing those costs?"
The committee vote was 10 to 4, along party lines.
