County ordered to pay legal fees

SANDPOINT — The Idaho Court of Appeals is ordering the award of attorney fees to a Bonner County man who successfully fought off civil forfeiture proceedings.

Sandpoint Police obtained a warrant in 2011 to search the home of Michael Trelby Cunningham Jr., who was suspected of selling drugs. The search netted a small amount of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and a lock box containing $9,050 cash was seized in the search.

Although Cunningham was only charged with misdemeanor drug possession, Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall initiated a civil action to seize the cash, contending it was the ill-gotten gains from drug sales. Cunningham’s defense counsel, Val Thornton, opposed the forfeiture, asserting that the money was Cunningham’s life savings, according to court documents.

Thornton moved to dismiss the forfeiture proceeding because it was initiated four days after the 30-day window to pursue such an action had closed. Magistrate Court Judge Barbara Buchanan, who is now a district judge, granted the motion and the money was returned to Cunningham, court documents indicate.

Thornton next moved for the award of nearly $7,000 in attorney fees, arguing that the county acted without reasonable basis in law by belatedly initiating forfeiture proceedings and opposing the motion to dismiss.

Buchanan declined to award the fees, finding that the county’s conduct was not unreasonable. Thornton appealed the ruling in 1st District Court but Judge Jeff Brudie affirmed the lower court’s ruling, prompting the latest appeal.

Although state law requires a forfeiture to be initiated within 30 days of the seizure, the county argued that the statute is ambiguous because it also states that such a proceeding are to begin “promptly.”

Appeals court Judge Karen Lansing rejected that argument because it would nullify the express 30-day time limit in the statute, according to an April 24 opinion. She also rejected the county’s argument that the word “shall” in the statute did not actually amount to a mandatory requirement.

“Because Bonner County filed a plainly untimely complaint and unreasonably resisted Cunningham’s motion to dismiss the action, an award of fees under the statute is required,” Lansing said in the nine-page opinion.

Judges David Gratton and John Melanson concurred. The panel also ordered the county to cover Cunningham’s attorney fees during the appeal phase.

Cunningham, a 35-year-old who now resides in Sagle, entered a conditional plea of guilt in the criminal case, which is also under appeal. Thornton contends the basis for the search warrant was deeply flawed, according to court documents.