Boehner awarded $1.1 million in tape case

WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., has been ordered to pay House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, $1.1 million in legal fees, court paper say.

The order came in a lawsuit filed a decade ago after McDermott distributed tapes of an illegally intercepted phone call between Boehner and other Republicans, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan ordered McDermott to pay Boehner $1.05 million in attorney's fees, about $40,000 in interest and more than $60,000 the court previously ordered McDermott to pay in damages, the newspaper said.

McDermott had obtained the tape from a Florida couple who picked up Boehner's cell phone conversation on a radio scanner in 1996. He argued that distributing the tape was protected by the First Amendment.

"Although a sharply divided court ultimately favored Mr. Boehner in his legal battle, the First Amendment won the war, because this case articulated and affirmed the right of journalists and others to publish truthful information without fear of reprisal," McDermott said in a statement.