The city of Austin will pay $461,000 in attorney fees to settle a case by five pregnancy resource centers that won a ruling that a city ordinance requiring them to post a sign was unconstitutional.

“They are all ministries. They are all religious-based. By being forced to post the sign outside, that was going to be the first encounter with a woman, and it was the government message that was false and misleading. It would then impact their ability to do their ministry,” said plaintiffs co-counsel Jeff Mateer, general counsel of the Liberty Institute, a nonprofit religious liberty law firm in Plano.

Austin council members on Aug. 20 approved the $480,000 settlement. The amount includes the fees plus $19,000 in court costs, said a mediated settlement agreement, which Texas Lawyer received through a Texas Public Information Act request.