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Instead of the nearly $1.5 million legal bill initially requested by Andrew Smith — who penned an article in 2001 that was censored by administrators — a trial court ruled the Novato Unified School District will pay $336,350 in attorney fees. The California Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Calif., affirmed that decision May 28.

The only matter left to settle is the amount of interest the school district will be required to pay on that total, which a trial court will decide within a few months, said Stephan Birgel, who represented the school district.

Birgel said the reduced amount was "a good ruling," noting he felt the requested $1.5 million was "very unrealistic." Birgel said the figure was high because the plaintiffs had included "a lot of excess," including charging to rent cars, learning new trial technology, and claiming six hours of attorney fees for a one-page form.

The lawsuit stemmed from Smith's 2001 editorial titled "Immigration" in the school's newspaper, the Buzz. Smith criticized immigration laws, causing some students to protest. Then-Principal Lisa Schwartz quickly implemented prior review and postponed a second column by Smith titled "Reverse Racism."

In 2005, the Marin County Superior Court said school officials were right in censoring Smith's editorial. But the California Court of Appeals reversed the ruling, invoking California's Education Code section 48907, which guarantees students have free expression rights in schools except with the speech is "obscene, libelous or slanderous" or incites students to create a danger or disruption to the school's operations.

The California Supreme Court denied the district's appeal in 2007 and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2008.

After the district pays the legal fees, including the interest, the case will be over, Birgel said.

Smith's attorney, Paul Beard, and officials from the Novato Unified School District did not return calls for comment.