This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A lawyer for the Utah Republican Party is challenging a judge's refusal to grant the party attorney fees in its federal court case, arguing the judge is biased against the GOP lawyer and has treated him unfairly in more than one trial.

Marcus Mumford said U.S. District Judge David Nuffer demonstrated clear animosity toward Mumford during the course of the GOP's lawsuit challenging a new state election law and during another case, the criminal trial of St. George businessman Jeremy Johnson. Mumford represented co-defendant Scott Leavitt, who was acquitted of all charges, in that case.

Mumford alleges that Nuffer's bias against him led the judge to reject a request that the party receive attorney fees it should have been entitled to because the party won a challenge over whether the state could force the party to let unaffiliated voters participate in Republican primaries. The party lost challenges over the constitutionality of SB54 and signature-gathering thresholds for candidates.

Nuffer rejected the fee request from Mumford in March, ruling that Mumford had repeatedly missed filing deadlines in the case and was late filing the motion to collect attorney fees.

"Mr. Mumford was warned repeatedly about missing deadlines, but he did not file the motion for fees by December 7, as required," Nuffer wrote in March, when he rejected the initial fee request. "Mr. Mumford was previously warned about this method of filing [extensions], and did not change his behavior."

Nuffer went so far as to order the Republican Party to hire additional counsel to help Mumford meet the court-imposed deadlines.

But Mumford argues that in the Johnson case, Nuffer was hostile and biased toward Mumford. He cites a pair of affidavits from jurors in the Johnson case to support his argument.

"Judge Nuffer treated Leavitt's counsel [Mumford] and the defendants Jeremy Johnson and Ryan Riddle, who were defending themselves, in a manner that was brusque, short of patience, and at times downright embarrassingly nasty," said one juror, whose name was redacted in the filing.

Mumford argues that Nuffer should recuse himself from the case because of his personal bias against Mumford and another judge should rule on the GOP's request for attorney fees.

Twitter: @RobertGehrke