• by Ray Schultz , December 25, 2024

A judge has ordered Utah businessman Wayne Aston to pay $393,597 in legal fees to the Millard CountyChronicle Progress, a newspaper he unsuccessfully sued for libel last year. 

Aston filed the suit, which asked for $19.2 million, after the Chronicle Progress alleged that he planned to manufacture modular homes next to the local Fillmore airport, and that he wanted public funding for infrastructure improvements that would help the plan, according to Fox 13. 

A 2023 state law designed to support the First Amendment allows defendants who win cases to pursue attorney fees. 

Judge Anthony Howell stated that Aston did not challenge many facts in the story, Fox reports. 

Aston plans to appeal the decision. 

Jeff Hunt, an attorney for the newspaper, told Fox News that Aston’s suit “would have imposed enormous financial cost on the on the newspaper just to defend itself.”