Can public employees recover attorney fees for partially dismissed criminal charges? Deland v. Uintah County Explained

The Utah Court of Appeals addressed an important question about attorney fee recovery for public employees in Deland v. Uintah County. The case involved Sheriff Lloyd Meacham, who faced both felony and misdemeanor charges in a single criminal information. While the felony counts were dismissed, Meacham pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. His attorney sought to recover fees under Utah Code Ann. § 63-30a-2, which allows public employees to recover attorney fees when criminal charges are dismissed.

The statute provides that public officers may recover attorney fees when “that indictment or information is quashed or dismissed.” DeLand argued that each count constituted a separate information, making fees recoverable for the dismissed felony counts. However, the Court of Appeals rejected this interpretation through careful statutory construction.

The court applied the correctness standard for questions of statutory interpretation and relied primarily on plain language analysis. Key to the court’s reasoning was Utah Code Ann. § 68-3-12(1)(a), which states that “the singular number includes the plural, and the plural the singular.” The court noted that informations commonly include multiple counts under Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure 9.5, and the Legislature could have easily provided for recovery when individual counts are dismissed if that was the intent.

The court emphasized that the Legislature “clearly states a public officer or employee is entitled to recover attorney fees when ‘the indictment or information is quashed or dismissed'” rather than when individual counts are dismissed. This interpretation prevents the statute from being read to allow partial fee recovery for mixed outcomes in criminal cases.

For practitioners representing public employees facing criminal charges, this decision establishes that strategic considerations must include the all-or-nothing nature of fee recovery. Accepting plea bargains or allowing partial dismissals forecloses the possibility of recovering any attorney fees under this statute, even for successfully defended charges. The decision also demonstrates the importance of precise statutory language in limiting remedies available to public employees.