Fitch, Tausch want co-op to pay fees now

Socorro attorneys Thomas Fitch and Polly Tausch filed a response to Socorro Electric Cooperatives motion to reconsider awarding attorney fees in the case of the co-op suing its member owners.

The preliminary case was decided in May when a New Mexico Supreme Court-appointed district judge ruled against Socorro Electric in its attempt to block new bylaws that require the co-op operate with greater transparency. Judge Albert J. Mitchell Jr. later ordered the co-op to pay $13,000 in attorney fees to the lawyers that defended the case. Fitch and Tausch were to receive $2,000 within 30 days of that Nov. 8 order, but Socorro Electric filed a motion to delay the payment until the case was resolved in its entirety.

What’s still pending is a countersuit that calls for class action certification, which was brought by two teams of attorneys — Deschamps & Kortemeier of Socorro and Ikard Wynne of Austin, Texas.

At a Dec. 2 hearing, Judge Mitchell granted a stay that expires at the end of the year. He said he will either extend the stay or order that the co-op pay up immediately.

Fitch and Tausch say in their response, dated Dec. 9, that the co-op’s request to delay payment until entry of a final judgment does not apply to them.

“They (Fitch & Tausch) wish to be paid their attorney’s fees so they may withdraw from any further remaining lawsuits,” the filing states. “… it is also noteworthy to point out that Fitch & Tausch are through with this lawsuit as neither has been sued by Deschamps & Koretemeier nor have they become involved in anything beyond the Cooperative’s initial attempt to void the revised bylaws enacted by the members at the April 17, 2010, annual meeting.”

At the 2010 annual meeting, member-owners of the private, non-profit corporation passed a bevy of reform measures by overwhelming margins. Among them were resolutions that the co-op abide by the Open Meetings Act and Inspection of Public Records Act.

Socorro Electric challenged the bylaws, arguing that those acts apply to government entities, but not rural electric utilities. The judge ruled that the bylaws were valid and properly adopted by the democratically controlled co-op.

Fitch was temporarily sidelined from the lawsuit after he was brutally attacked at his law office on Aug. 5. Though he wasn’t present for the telephonic hearing on Dec. 2, Tausch reported that her husband and law partner was improving. There have also been recent reports of Fitch being seen in public around town.

Fitch and Tausch did not returned phone calls from El Defensor Chieftain before its deadline on Tuesday.

 

-- Email the author at tslast@dchieftain.com.