More defendants seek KJ attorney fees

Published 5:24 pm Friday, March 11, 2016

VALDOSTA — Additional defendants named in a dropped $100 million lawsuit by the parents of Kendrick Johnson have filed for restitution of attorney fees.

The former defendants are now seeking more than $850,000 in attorney’s fees, according to court officials.

Attorneys for Lowndes County school officials and Valdosta city officials named in the original suit filed motions to reclaim attorney fees Friday, according to court officials.

Lowndes County and a family whose son has been repeatedly connected to the case filed for more than $400,000 in attorney fees earlier this week from KJ parents Kenneth Johnson and Jacquelyn Johnson and their attorney Chevene King.

The Johnsons’ $100 million lawsuit named city officials, Lowndes County school officials, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents as well as other county officials as defendants.

The Johnsons dropped the $100 million suit last week. King, the Johnsons’ attorney, has said the family plans to refile the suit at an unspecified date.

Kendrick Johnson’s body was found upside down in a vertically stored gym mat at Lowndes High School in January 2013. A state autopsy ruled the 17-year-old’s death accidental. The Johnson family insists their son died of foul play.

A U.S. Attorney’s Office review of the “KJ” case has been on-going for nearly two and a half years.