Over $222,000 in Legal Costs and Fees Awarded to HRDC in Florida Records Suit Against Centurion
by Chuck Sharman
After securing an order for the release of settlement records from Centurion of Florida in a state prisoner’s death, the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), nonprofit publisher of PLN and Criminal Legal News, was awarded $222,134.84 in legal costs and fees on November 21, 2025.
As PLN reported, HRDC made its request in June 2022 for the settlement that Centurion reached in a suit over the death of prisoner Curtis Dettman, 31, at the state Department of Corrections (DOC) Reception and Medical Center (RMC). Although it was the contracted healthcare provider for the DOC, Centurion refused to provide the requested documents, claiming that it was a private entity not subject to the state’s “sunshine” laws, specifically the Florida Public Records Act (PRA), ch.119 § 01, et seq., Fla. Stats. HRDC then filed suit in the state’s Seventh Judicial Circuit Court for Putnam County, which agreed in June 2025 that Centurion was the functional equivalent of a state agency and, therefore, obligated to comply with the request. [See: PLN, Aug. 2025, p.27.]
HRDC proceeded to file its motion for legal costs and fees, supported by documentation from its attorneys in the case from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in Seattle and Slater Legal PLLC in Atlanta and Tallahassee, as well as in-house Litigation Director Jonathan Picard. In considering whether the hours and rates that were billed were reasonable, the circuit court heard expert testimony for HRDC provided by Karen Kammer, past chair of the Florida Bar Media & Communications Law Committee. “Her opinions as to reasonableness of rates and time expended were based on her decades of experience in the media bar,” the circuit court noted, “and her knowledge of the professionals who have the expertise to handle matters like this, and who would be willing to take the risk of handling a matter like this on a contingency basis.”
Kammer suggested that Centurion may have filed suit in a rural county like Putnam to “artificially depress” the “market rates that the attorneys representing HRDC might be seeking should HRDC prevail.” Sadly, the circuit court “did not afford any weight” to this suggestion, calling it “speculation at best.” But Kammer’s long experience—she’s been a member of the state bar since 1988—added weight to her line-by-line analysis of the hours and rates billed. Centurion, significantly, “presented absolutely no evidence as to prevailing market rates,” the circuit court noted.
In the end, final judgment was entered awarding $80,272.50 in attorneys’ fees and $113.20 in costs paid to Slater Legal; $66,040.00 in attorneys’ fees and $1,177.34 in costs paid to Davis Wright Tremaine; and $74,645.00 in attorneys’ fees and $11,070.73 in costs—including Kammer’s $5,000 fee—paid to HRDC. See: Human Rights Def. Ctr. v. Centurion of Fla. LLC, Fla. 7th Jud. Cir. (Putnam Cty.), Case No. 2022-CA-0357.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
Related legal case
Human Rights Def. Ctr. v. Centurion of Fla. LLC, Fla. 7th Jud. Cir. (Putnam Cty.)
| Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cite | Case No. 2022-CA-0357 |
| Level | Trial Court |
| Conclusion | Settlement |