Idaho Newspaper Foundation v. City of Cascade

BURNETT, Judge.

In this case we are asked to review a district court’s award of attorney fees in a mandamus action. The dispositive issue is whether the award was authorized by I.C. § 12-120(3). For the reasons set forth below, we reverse.

The relevant facts are as follows. The City of Cascade and the Cascade School District are public entities required by law to publish notices of various actions. In 1987 these entities began to publish their legal notices in a newspaper called “The Advocate.” This decision prompted the Idaho Newspaper Foundation and a competing newspaper, the “Central Idaho…