ABOR is awarded nearly $1M in Omni hotel lawsuit
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge has awarded the Arizona Board of Regents nearly $1 million in legal fees to be paid by the Arizona attorney general after the dismissal of a lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, which was dismissed in November 2019, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich argued that a deal by Arizona State University to bring an Omni Hotel onto land owned by the Arizona Board of Regents was unlawful.
Brnovich originally filed suit in January, saying ASU was improperly allowing a private business to use its tax-exempt land. In April, he amended his complaint to add an allegation that the plan violates the Arizona Constitution's gift clause because the hotel would be paying well below market value for the site.
In July, Arizona Tax Court Judge Christopher Whitten dismissed most of Brnovich's claims but allowed the constitutional argument to move forward.
In November, Whitten ruled that the lawsuit fell outside the statute of limitations, which was one year.
ABOR sought money to cover attorneys' fees and costs in December, and Brnovich argued that the attorneys' hourly rate was excessive and that the number of hours billed were too high for the short period of time.
On Wednesday, the judge dismissed both arguments.
"The skill, experience and background of the defense lawyers in this case was far, far above average," Whitten said, according to court documents.
"It was a sprint, not a marathon. As such, it is not surprising that a great number of hours were billed in a short time, and by a large team of attorneys," he states later in the document.
The hotel is slated for University Drive and Mill Avenue, a prime location in Tempe. It would be the university's first on-campus hotel. Plans call for a 330-room hotel and a 30,000-squarefoot conference center to be built on land owned by the regents.
In an emailed statement to The Arizona Republic, Brnovich said, “I would rather be on the side of taxpayers and students versus an out-of-state billionaire. Shame on the Regents for using procedural tactics to delay our case from being heard. We look forward to an appeal and our continued fight to hold the Regents accountable.”
In a public statement released Friday ABOR Chair Larry Penley said, "The board remains justifiably disappointed that this suit was ever brought. Valuable tax-payer dollars and public resources have been wasted at the expense of the Attorney General’s choice to pursue litigation rather than consultation."
“The stakes were high. In his suit, the Attorney General sought to undo a transaction that will provide the ASU community access to a much-needed conference center and hotel facility, and will generate well over $100 million in rental payments to the university as well as provide additional positive economic impact to the City of Tempe and the State of Arizona," Penley said.