DENVER – Douglas Bruce has filed a civil suit against his former attorney David Lane seeking $165,000 in damages for misconduct in handling Bruce’s appeal of his 2012 felony convictions.

Bruce, a Colorado Springs anti-tax crusader, hired Lane in 2012 to represent him at the sentencing of a tax evasion trial with a $75,000 retainer to handle the appeal of three guilty convictions. Bruce said Lane delayed filing the opening brief of his appeal for almost two years, then refused to refund his money when Bruce lost patience and hired a different attorney. The case was filed in Denver District Court in early July.

“This isn’t just some innocuous little thing. This is keeping me on probation a year and a half longer than I should have been on probation,” Bruce said. “I was in effect in custody, and lost my civil rights because he just dawdled.”

Lane said he was about two-thirds of the way done with Bruce’s case when he was fired, so he returned the remaining third of the retainer to Bruce.

“That’s not a particularly long time,” Lane said of the delay for the opening brief. “We met every single deadline imposed upon us by the Colorado Court of Appeals. The fact that the court doesn’t move as fast as Douglas Bruce wants it to is probably because there are not enough dollars to adequately staff the Colorado Court of Appeals due to the TABOR Amendment.”

Bruce is the author of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, a voter-approved amendment to the Colorado Constitution that requires voter approval of every tax increase and limits the growth of government revenue.

Bruce said he has requested records from the court about the average length of time it takes for appeals to be filed.

He said his new attorney was able to quickly file both the opening and reply briefs and request an oral argument. Things didn’t go well for Bruce, however, and a three-judge panel denied his claims for appeal last month.

Bruce said he will be unable to get a fair trial in a Colorado court, in part because of his history with TABOR, and has filed for federal court to review the case. A separate hearing will be resumed on Aug. 31 to determine whether Bruce has violated the terms of his probation for his convictions. He could be sent to prison if the judge finds he failed to comply with the terms of his probation.

The conflict between Bruce and Lane first went to the Colorado Supreme Court Attorney Regulation Counsel, where Lane said he won the proceeding and it was determined he acted appropriately.

Bruce said Lane’s defense in that case was to call him “mentally ill.”

“That is outrageous not only because it’s untrue,” Bruce said. “But even if he has that opinion … you can’t do that to somebody that you’re representing, even if the client is suing you over a matter of money.”

Lane is a well-known Denver defense attorney who has handled high-profile cases like “balloon boy’s” parents and former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, whose controversial comments about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks led to him being fired.

“It was very difficult dealing with Douglas Bruce because I believe him to have a mental illness,” Lane said. “He’s simply a client. I don’t have a relationship other than as his attorney. I disagree with virtually everything he believes in, but I have well represented him.”

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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644

Twitter @CapitolSchrader

Douglas Bruce appeared at the City Administration Building Monday, May 4, 2015, to pay the city the nearly $7,600 judgment ordered by a district court. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette

MARK REIS