A 6th Judicial District judge ruled against Durango resident and self-styled watchdog John Simpson on Tuesday when she denied his request to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him by the city of Durango.
The decision sets Simpson and the city up for a civil trial scheduled for Sept. 5, although the city has requested a summary judgment that, if granted, would render a trial unnecessary, said City Attorney Mark Morgan.
Judge Suzanne Carlson rejected Simpson’s motion to dismiss, which argued the city lacked standing to seek declaratory judgments about whether Simpson violated the Colorado Open Records Act and if the Durango Board of Ethics has jurisdiction to continue processing an ethics complaint filed against Simpson.
Carlson’s ruling said the city’s request for judgments are a claim for relief and are adequate standing to request declaratory judgments, and cities have legally protected interests in enforcing their ethics codes.
The city launched its lawsuit against Simpson in September 2024, following Simpson’s threats of litigation against the city, the Durango Board of Ethics and individual Board of Ethics members who were processing an ethics complaint filed against him.
In August 2024, following the abrupt resignations of two Board of Ethics members, Morgan said Simpson’s legal threats to ethics board members at least partially contributed to members’ resignations.
Former Board of Ethics members Robert Bates-roshchin and Laurie Meininger submitted their resignations about two weeks apart that August.
Bates-roshchin did not respond to requests for comment about his resignation but cited “unforeseen personal circumstances” in a resignation letter.
Meininger told the The Durango Herald regarding the review of the complaint against Simpson, “everybody in the process is a little frustrated with how slow it’s been moving.”
Simpson said at ethics board meetings the board has no jurisdiction over CORA and the issue might have to be resolved in district court.
The city is seeking declaratory judgments Simpson violated the Colorado Open Records Act by refusing to provide emails between himself and former Councilor Olivier Bosmans to the city for a records request from the Herald in November 2023; and that Simpson “violated, attempted to violate, or constructively violated CORA” by including disclaimers in the emails that they “are not subject to CORA,” according to court documents.
Simpson’s conduct, revealed in emails through the Herald’s records request, became the center of an ethics complaint lodged against him in January 2024 by former Councilor Melissa Youssef ‒ the complaint the city now seeks a jurisdictional judgment on from the district court.
Youssef said in her complaint that Simpson “put his self-interest in seeking notoriety and community status as a self-proclaimed watchdog above the interest of the city” and “attempted to do this by promoting conspiracy theories, making false allegations and hiding emails conducting public business.”
Simpson filed his own ethics complaint against Youssef with the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission last year. The complaint is still under review.
cburney@durangoherald.com
