Court tosses one Shurtleff claim for attorneys fees, keeps another alive

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SALT LAKE CITY — A state judge tossed one of former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's claims for attorneys fees in the abandoned criminal case against him but kept another alive in a ruling Tuesday.

Shurtleff can't collect the fees under the state's reimbursement law but he still has a claim to the $1.1 million he believes he's owed under his argument for breach of contract, 3rd District Judge Bruce Lubeck ruled.

"We get to go forward. (The state has) to answer now, and we get to go litigate the case," Shurtleff said.

Lubeck granted the state's motion to dismiss Shurtleff's claim to attorneys fees under the restitution statute because the court dismissed the case based on the prosecution's motion. That earlier decision precluded the state from having to pay the fees.

The judge, though, declined to throw out Shurtleff's assertion that he had an agreement with prosecutors to provide information in other cases in exchange for the state not opposing his motion to dismiss the criminal charges against him. If a court drops a case based on a defendant's motion, the defendant may collect attorneys fees.

"It is undisputed that no final, written, signed copy of such an agreement exists. That does not, however, preclude the existence of an oral agreement nor preclude his claim to this point,"Lubeck wrote.

Shurtelff sued the state for $1.1 million in fees and damages in March, claiming Attorney General Sean Reyes thwarted his attempt to recoup the costs to defend himself. Reyes has denied the allegation.

Though negotiations over the fees have failed in the past, Shurtleff said he's open to sitting down with the state.

Also, Shurtleff said Tuesday he intends to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, Utah Department of Public Safety investigators and the FBI by the end of the year.

State prosecutors dropped felony public corruption charges against Shurtleff in summer 2016, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling making bribery more difficult to prove, the inability to obtain key evidence from a federal investigation and concerns over whether he could get a fair trial.