Sixth Judicial District Court Judge Suzanne Carlson ruled this past Wednesday that attorneys fees sought by Durango resident John Simpson and Pagosa Springs attorney Matt Roane against the city of Durango were “overstated.”

The ruling came after Simpson filed a motion for a ruling on legal costs and attorney fees related to an open records lawsuit about 2021 draft city financial documents he won in February.

Carlson sided with Simpson in her ruling against the city of Durango early this year. But she said in her latest ruling the legal fees Simpson and Roane requested are “overstated considering the expertise of (Simpson’s) attorney.”

“He has been involved as the attorney in numerous similar lawsuits in the past,” she said in the ruling. “ … The number of hours needed for research and briefing should be relatively similar for each party and Defendant attorney’s research hours more accurately reflect the hours required in this case.”

She said the hours needed to prepare for and attend the recent hearing about attorney fees and costs claimed by Simpson and Roane were overstated, and the hours the city’s special counsel spent and reported to the court are evidence of such.

“While (the) Plaintiff’s attorney did achieve success in the lawsuit, the hours expended were not reasonable given the limited scope of the issues and the expertise of (the) Plaintiff’s attorney in this area of law,” she said.

Roane did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Simpson’s and Roane’s client-attorney agreement was legal services for $325 per hour, according to the court order. In total, Simpson requested $29,965 for attorney fees and $499 for additional costs.

According to the court order, the requested fees break down accordingly:

The legal fees awarded were reduced by 13 hours, and attorney’s “fees on fees” were reduced by 25 hours, a reduction in fees of $12,850, the order says.

Carlson ruled Simpson was owed $17,115, plus costs of $499.

“The judge ruled that Simpson and Roane were trying to overcharge at taxpayer expense,” City Attorney Mark Morgan said in a city news release Thursday. “If the city is successful in the appeal, which is set for January, no attorney fees will be owed.”

In an interview with Morgan, he said the court ruling supports the idea Simpson and Roane are fleecing the city of taxpayers’ dollars.

“The judge reduced (Simpson’s) ‘fees for fees’ amount by 88.3%,” he said in a text message to The Durango Herald. “That is a very clear finding that they were trying to ‘fleece’ the city.”

In an interview, Morgan also said in an interview that the city feels it “is our job to protect taxpayer money.”

“Clearly, Mr. Roane has made a living filing suits against municipalities and school boards and has collected taxpayer money. We felt that his attempt in this case was excessive,” he said. “And we challenged it and the judge agreed. And not only did she agree, she agreed that it was unreasonable and excessive because she reduced one part of it by 88%.”

Carlson’s ruling happened a month after the city sent Simpson a cease and desist letter, outlining alleged harassment over hundreds if not thousands of emails to city staff and appointed and elected officials and ordering Simpson to stop under threat of legal action, according to the release.

Morgan says in the letter roughly 30% of the city’s legal department’s time is spent investigating and responding to Simpson’s accusations, as mentioned in the city release.

The city is appealing the court’s verdict in Simpson’s open records lawsuit, with oral arguments scheduled for January and a ruling expected some time in the following weeks.

What started as a fight for transparency against the city initiated by Simpson has become a drawn out tit-for-tat, in which both sides are calling out questions of transparency about the other.

Simpson’s open records lawsuit resulted in Carlson ruling that the city must make draft financial documents available to the public, even if those drafts may be flawed and contain inaccurate information.

cburney@durangoherald.com