Attorney Fees in a Split Decision

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LordFoe

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My family has been involved in a dispute with a water district regarding whos responsibility it is to repair a broken water line in a special district of Colorado. A jury ruled that we are responsible for the repairs to the water line itself but not for the street cut. The total bill was about $20,000. The decision results in approximately a split judgement in which the water company pays half of the total bill and my family pays half. However, the judge ruled that my family is responsible for ALL of the attorney fees, resulting in a $50,000 bill for what was originally a $20,000 dollar repair despite the split decision. We are set to appeal this decision.

Is the judge's ruling correct? Are we responsible for ALL of the attorney fees even though the case resulted in a split decision? What are the applicable statutes?

I have been reading about the "American Rule" which says that each party is responsible for their own attorney fees. Why didn't this apply?
 
Without having read the decision, I can't say for sure.

Did you start the lawsuit?

Did you refuse to settle?
 
We did initiate the law suit and refused to settle. The reason being that the work that we were being billed for was poorly done and occurred on three different occasions, one of which was to repair mistakes the first time around. It is our feeling that the bill was unfair, unusually high, and that had we been informed of the problem we could have contracted somebody for much much cheaper than the water company did.
 
We did initiate the law suit and refused to settle. The reason being that the work that we were being billed for was poorly done and occurred on three different occasions, one of which was to repair mistakes the first time around. It is our feeling that the bill was unfair, unusually high, and that had we been informed of the problem we could have contracted somebody for much much cheaper than the water company did.

That explains it.
 
I'm sorry, but with all due respect, that doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone ever initiate a lawsuit if the end result of doing so is going to be attorney fees that cost more than the suit is contesting? What is to be said of the "American Rule"? Is the decision on who pays attorney fees the sole discretion of the judge? Are there not rules that guide this decision?
 
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