The Colorado Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Wednesday about whether a Denver activist has legal standing to sue a state agency that wanted to charge him $600 for public records — an amount he refused to pay.

In court filings, Frank Sturgell stated he was “homeless and penniless” in 2020 when he made a Colorado Open Records Act request for copies of ketamine waivers from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and couldn’t afford the department’s estimated fee to pull 50 two-page records. He considered the fee “not reasonable” and a denial of the records, “a blocking attempt regularly used by government agencies to avoid disclosure of public documents.”

But Denver District Court Judge Kandace Gerdes dismissed his CORA lawsuit last June without holding a hearing, ruling that Sturgell did not have standing to bring his claims because he hadn’t “alleged personal injury.”