Yakima has paid more than $981,000 in attorney fees and expert witness costs in its ongoing voting rights case with the American Civil Liberties Union.
if the if the case, which was brought by the ACLU on behalf of Hispanic residents, does proceed before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals it would cost the city another $100,000 in attorney fees. The Yakima City Council voted to appeal the case last week.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice ruled last summer that Yakima's system for at-large election of city council members "suffocates" the will of Latino voters. The ACLU brought the lawsuit in 2012.
The ACLU is seeking $2.8 million from the city in legal costs associated with winning the case.

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