The 9th Court of Appeals denied Conroe’s motion for a rehearing that stemmed from a Feb. 2 opinion that said Conroe was not automatically entitled to recuperate its attorneys’ fees from the district, though that ruling did allow the lawsuit to otherwise move forward to trial. Any motion regarding the directors’ attorney fees must be filed with the 284th state District Court, which has been frozen as the two entities took the battle into the appellate courts in June 2016. Under the Texas Water Code, Conroe would be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees incurred by the LSGCD, if the city loses the suit. […] the Beaumont court originally ruled the district should not be liable for Conroe’s attorney fees if the city were to win the suit, citing a lack of explicit authorization under the Texas Water Code. In spite of the court’s ruling, Conroe still could ask a judge to order the district to pay the city’s legal fees if it wanted to, although Stilwell said that could be an uphill battle for Conroe in the court system.
