FAIRHOPE, Ala. - The trial in the “Dyas triangle” lawsuit is still seven months away, but costs billed to the city by defense attorneys have nearly reached a half million dollars, according to documents provided the city clerk’s office.

“The City itself has been invoiced $472,454 in fees and expenses regarding the Dyas litigation,” City Clerk Lisa Hanks wrote July 13 in response to a June 30 public records request. “There have been depositions of 29 witnesses and seven more are scheduled. The City was first billed on May 6, 2008 for time and expenses incurred beginning on April 3, 2008.”

The city did not respond to the Courier’s request for the hourly rates of the attorneys in the case, nor for the names of the individuals deposed.

Prior to the city’s response, Caine O’Rear, the lead defense attorney in the case, reviewed the information, Hanks said. He stated to her that some of the information prepared by the city treasurer’s office regarding attorney’s fees was incorrect, Hanks said.

The Courier has not yet received the initial information on attorney’s fees prepared by the city, which O’Rear reviewed prior to the city’s July 13 response.

“For any additional information please contact Caine O’Rear, attorney with Hand Arendall,” Hanks’ July 13 letter stated, regarding the request for public records of the city.

O’Rear did not immediately respond to a request for comment about hourly rates for Hand Arendall attorneys working on the case, or for other information requested but not received. An assistant in his office said Friday that O’Rear was on vacation and not available for comment until next week.

Although the city did not respond to the Courier’s request regarding hourly rates of attorneys in the case, O’Rear stated in a March e-mail to the city that his hourly rate in the case was $300 per hour.

“In general, it is safe to say the council and the mayor are extremely concerned about the lawyers’ fees paid in the Dyas case and the amount of such fees generally,” Councilman Rick Kingrea stated Thursday.

Together with Council President Lonnie Mixon, Kingrea has reviewed how attorney contracts with the city are awarded and the fees paid.

“We looked at the rates we were paying in some cases and thought they were a little over the top,” Mixon said in March. “We also did some research and got some numbers that we felt were more in the appropriate ball park than we are paying now. We can’t stay at the current level with some of those rates given our tight budget.”

The defense attorneys in the Dyas lawsuit are paid from Fairhope’s general fund, according to city staff, and several citizens have complained during the past two years about the rate of attorney’s fees paid and the overall cost of the case to Fairhope taxpayers.

The lawsuit was filed by members of the Dyas family in April 2008, claiming the city and Mayor Tim Kant thwarted development at the “Dyas triangle” property on U.S. 98, while paving the way for another large mixed-use commercial and residential project across the street.

From the outset of the case, three Hand Arendall attorneys have defended the city and Kant, according to court records. For about a month at the start of the case, two members of the law firm Galloway, Wettermark, Everest, Rutens and Gaillard, also worked for the defense.

In addition to O’Rear, the other Hand Arendall defense attorneys are Lisa Cooper and Katherine Bonnici, according to court records, but Bonnici moved to withdraw from the case in May without stating a specific reason for doing so.

In addition to the $472,454 in fees and expenses invoiced to the city, additional costs have been paid by the city’s legal liability insurance carrier, City Administrator Gregg Mim said during a Budget Committee meeting Thursday.

“Our insurance carrier is involved in that case, and they’re paying a percentage of legal fees,” he said.

During a discussion about the Dyas case at Thursday’s meeting, committee member Chuck Zunk asked where the funds would come from if the lawsuit were lost by the city and “we have to pay a million dollars.”

Mims said the city’s insurance company would pay a percentage of that judgment but added he thought the case would be won by the city. He also said the city would appeal the case, if necessary.

In August last year, the city was overbilled by Hand Arendall in the Dyas case, which a law firm employee brought to the city’s attention.

The e-mail indicated that fees are split in that case by the city and its insurance company, the Alabama Municipal Insurance Corporation. Thus, the case has generated fees for the Hand Arendall firm larger than the amount billed to the city.

“When I prepared the statement sent to you on July 10 (for June time), I inadvertently included AMIC’s unpaid balance on the City’s statement,” the law firm employee’s Aug. 4 e-mail to the city treasurer stated. “Because of this error on my part, the City made a $56,408.15 overpayment of its share on this matter.”

The e-mail stated that Hand Arendall would be remitting a check to the city for the overpayment.

Kingrea stated Thursday that some changes have been made in the way attorney contracts are handled by the city and the rates, referencing the amounts paid by AMIC.

“There have been definite changes made in the awarding of legal work, such as, using different lawyers (from Hand Arendall) at the AMIC rate, which is considerably less than Hand’s rate, and a reduction of Hand’s rate for new cases.”

Several trial dates in the Dyas lawsuit have been delayed, with the most recent August trial date continued until February 2011.

An attorney for the plaintiffs said earlier this month that defense litigation tactics resulted in the most recent delay. But O’Rear stated at that time that the case was continued by the court and not at the insistence of either party, and that “the timing of the court’s ruling on certain discovery motions made the prior scheduling order and the August trial unworkable.”

The Dyas lawsuit is now scheduled for jury selection on Feb. 1 in Mobile federal court, with a trial to occur sometime that month, according to court records.