Plaintiff’s attorney’s fees at $1.4 million Legal fees are piling up for the city of Key West, which now faces a $1.4 million bill for attorneys’ fees stemming from the Duck Tours lawsuit. That figure includes only the Duck Tours’ attorneys’ fees, not the amount the city has spent on its own lawyers throughout the five-year battle, nor the amount in damages the city must pay Duck Tours for its losses. Duck Tours attorney Mick Barnes submitted the bill to Mayor Morgan McPherson and City Attorney Shawn Smith more than a month ago. Smith on Friday acknowledged the legal bills were “significant” and “over a million dollars,” but said he did not have an exact figure in front of him. “Since the Ducks prevailed and the city did not, the Ducks are entitled to their reasonable attorneys’ fees, which, of course, are considerable having been caused by the city’s actions and intensive litigation over well more than a decade,” Barnes said. City Manager Jim Scholl on Friday said the city would tap its operating reserves and infrastructure reserve funds to pay for attorneys’ fees, as long as the law allows money from those funds to be spent on such fees. The protracted battle began well after the city refused to allow Duck Tours owner John Murphy to operate his amphibious tour in 1996. Murphy won a court decision in 2005 when a judge ruled the city’s franchise agreements with Historic Tours of America, operating the Conch Tour Train and Old Town Trolley, represented a monopoly on tour businesses, and Duck Tours was entitled to attorneys’ fees and damages Subsequently, a jury in 2005 ruled that the city owed Murphy $13.5 million based on the potential revenue the tour business had lost since it was forced to close in 1996.

The city appealed the $13.5 price tag, and the 3rd District Court of Appeal agreed in 2007 that the calculation was incorrect and ordered a new trial to recalculate the damages owed to Murphy. Barnes asked the Florida Supreme Court to review the ruling that ordered a new calculation of damages, hoping the $13.5 million would stand. Five state Supreme Court justices on Wednesday announced their decision to “decline to accept jurisdiction” on the matter, meaning the former ruling that calls for a new calculation of damages stands. No date for the new trial had been set as of Friday afternoon. Barnes said the city has not responded to his attorneys’ fees package, but added that the city has the right to contest some or all of his charges. If not paid in full, or if a settlement amount is not reached, a judge would make the final decision about how much the city must pay in attorneys’ fees, Barnes said. “The city has not indicated any particular interest in making an offer or settling,” Barnes said. “The city is betting with taxpayers’ money that somewhere a judge will slash the costs of attorneys’ fees. Meanwhile, the interest is accruing.”