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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Idaho to pay attorney fees in same-sex burial case

BOISE – Idaho’s top state elected officials have approved paying $70,000 in attorney fees to Madelynn Lee Taylor, the Navy veteran who went to court to fight to have her ashes interred with those of her wife at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery.

“There is no question that the plaintiff is entitled to an award of fees and expenses under controlling law,” Deputy Idaho Attorney General W. Scott Zanzig wrote in a memo that went to the state Board of Examiners on Tuesday. The board, which consists of the governor, the secretary of state and the attorney general, unanimously approved the request.

Taylor’s attorneys had requested $78,408 in fees and costs; the state negotiated that down to $70,000. The claim will be paid out of a fund set aside by lawmakers to pay the winning side’s attorney fees in cases the state loses.

Taylor’s first application to be interred with her late wife was rejected, based on Idaho’s previous law and constitutional provision banning same-sex marriage. After courts overturned the marriage ban, Taylor’s request was granted.

The state, however, objected to Taylor’s request to permanently bar the state from removing her wife Jean Mixner’s ashes from the cemetery or preventing the two from being buried together after Taylor’s death. A federal court granted Taylor’s request for a permanent injunction.

In their motion for attorney fees, Taylor’s attorneys, led by Boise attorney Deborah Ferguson, cited her “complete victory in this case.”