Appeals court throws out $600K awarded in lawsuit related to Tracie Hunter case

A federal appeals court has ruled that a woman and her attorneys should not have been awarded nearly $600,000 in a lawsuit connected to her actions a decade ago during the Tracie Hunter case.

In an opinion filed Wednesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a jury award of $35,000 , as well as $546,000 in attorney's fees awarded by the federal judge who oversaw the trial.

Vanessa Enoch , then a doctoral student, was arrested in 2014 while reporting on the case against Hunter, who at the time was facing criminal charges for alleged misconduct as a Hamilton County Juvenile Court judge. Enoch is currently a candidate for Ohio's 8th Congressional District.

2 iPads and an encounter with deputies

Enoch was reporting for the Cincinnati Herald, a weekly publication, and doing research for her doctoral program. After a June 2014 hearing at the Hamilton County Courthouse, Enoch went into the hallway outside the courtroom and used her iPad to take photos of Hunter, her attorney and others, the opinion says. Hunter's former bailiff, Avery Corbin, also was taking photos with an iPad.

In the hallway, there was an encounter with sheriff's deputies, who told Enoch and Corbin that they were prohibited from using recording devices in the hallway without permission of the judge. Both were charged with disorderly conduct, and Enoch also was charged with failing to identify herself to law enforcement.

The charges were ultimately dropped, but Enoch and Corbin filed a lawsuit that went to trial in federal court in 2022. A jury found that the deputies violated Enoch’s First Amendment rights. The jury, however, found that Corbin’s rights were not violated.

In its opinion, the 6th Circuit said that the right to attend judicial proceedings does not give someone an "unqualified right to record those proceedings or the happenings in courthouse hallways."

It said that Enoch failed to show that her arrest resulted from anything other than "a reasonable, content-neutral restriction on speech."

In a statement, Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers said the appeals court's ruling validates her office's contention that the lawsuit had been meritless from the beginning.

Powers said her office's civil division saved the county from being forced to pay more than half a million dollars in "improperly awarded fees and damages."

First Amendment 'has taken a big hit'

Enoch's attorney, Robert Newman, said "the First Amendment has taken a big hit by the conservative wing of the 6th Circuit."

An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible, although Newman said it would be "an uphill climb" because the court is dominated by conservative, Republican-appointed justices.

"But I'm considering making that climb," he said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Appeals court throws out $600K awarded in lawsuit related to Tracie Hunter case