U. of Colorado Seeks $10,000 in Legal Costs From Ward Churchill

A day after a state judge vacated a jury verdict holding that University of Colorado officials had violated Ward Churchill’s First Amendment rights by firing him, the university announced that it would bill the former ethnic-studies professor more than $10,000 in out-of-pocket costs it incurred while defending against his wrongful-termination suit, The Denver Post reported.

The university cannot seek reimbursement for all of its legal costs, but as a successful defendant in a civil lawsuit, it is entitled to file for such expenses as the cost of deposition transcripts, out-of-state travel, and witness fees, said Patrick T. O’Rourke, a lawyer for the university. Those costs will come to at least $10,000, he said.

Mr. Churchill is unlikely to pay up anytime soon, however. He plans to appeal the decision issued on Tuesday by Judge Larry J. Naves of the Denver District Court. Judge Naves’s decision not only rejected Mr. Churchill’s efforts to force the university to reinstate him, it vacated the April 2 verdict in which a jury found that the university had illegally fired Mr. Churchill for academic misconduct in response to statements he had made. —Charles Huckabee