Canady said he would not award ESPN punitive damages amounting to $500 because he could not determine that MSU acted improperly or unreasonably during the case.

In its initial motion, ESPN requested almost $90,000 from MSU for attorney fees, processing fees and punitive damages, citing a portion of Michigan's Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, law that says if a person appeals a court's decision to deny all or some of a public records request and prevails, a judge "shall award reasonable attorneys' fees, costs, and disbursements." 

The main issue Canady had with ESPN’s request for compensation of attorneys' fees was that he said they weren’t reasonable fees compared to average attorney fees in Ingham County. Canady also said he believed both parties had prevailed in part.

ESPN said their attorneys spent more than 250 hours during the case, making between $280 per hour for associate attorneys and as much as $520 per hour for principal attorneys, with paralegals making $230 per hour.

Ultimately Canady said a reasonable amount of money per hour for attorney fees would be roughly $350 for each principal attorney and $220 for an associate attorney based on average fees in Ingham and Washtenaw county. Canady said ESPN should not be compensated for paralegal fees.

ESPN and MSU are tasked with calculating a total amount of attorney fees by the time of the next hearing based on Canady's order.

A future hearing was not scheduled.