FILE: Michael Satcher, left, faces a man counter protesting a demonstration against racism in Prineville on Aug. 15, 2020.
Emily Cureton Cook / OPB
A yearlong legal fight between the city of Bend and a central Oregon activist appears headed for a resolution.
Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon filed a motion in court Tuesday that, if approved by a judge, would see the city pay activist Michael Satcher $18,000 in attorney fees resulting from the protracted fight over public records. The city of Bend has agreed to the settlement.
The dispute stems from a records request Satcher filed in January 2021. Satcher, who is a member of the racial justice activist group the Central Oregon Peacekeepers, filed the request seeking thousands of emails and text messages regarding the Bend Police Department’s response to racial justice protests.
The city attempted to charge Satcher $3,600 for what Bend city attorney Mary Winters described at the time as an “extremely broad request.” Satcher appealed that decision to the Deschutes County district attorney, who ordered the records released. While Bend complied and released the records, city lawyers also sued Satcher in an attempt to make him pay for them.
The motion filed Tuesday by attorneys Rian Peck and Alan Kessler on behalf of Satcher would dismiss the city’s lawsuit with prejudice.
“The City of Bend was explicit in saying they took us to court to discourage requests like this in the future,” the Central Oregon Peacekeepers said in a statement. “They spent an enormous amount of money trying to bully us into giving up. We are thrilled that they were not allowed to prevail. In the future, we hope the City decides to spend taxpayer dollars helping people, instead of spending to silence them.”
Bend officials said Tuesday that they pursued the lawsuit after what they described as an “incorrect legal analysis related to fees” by District Attorney John Hummel’s office. Through the litigation, Bend communications director Anne Aurand said in a statement, the “District Attorney recently acknowledged the City’s public records fee structure is authorized by Oregon law.”
With that point agreed upon, Aurand said the city decided to settle with Satcher.
“While an attorney fee payment of $18,000 is not insignificant, it is likely much less than what it would have cost the City if the City continued to pursue the lawsuit on the merits,” Aurand wrote. “With a major issue in the litigation resolved, the City decided staff and attorney time were better spent on other matters.”
The city said it could not detail how much money it spent on the litigation.
“Unlike private attorneys who track billable hours for each of their clients’ cases, our in-house counsel does not track attorney or staff hours for particular matters,” Bend spokesperson Joshua Romero said in an email.
Tuesday’s motion will need final approval from a judge before the settlement is final.
OPB’s Emily Cureton Cook contributed to this story.