A Pagosa Springs lawyer who routinely sues school boards around the state for violations of the open meetings law is defending his role as a “private attorney general” in a case now before Colorado’s second-highest court.

A district court judge in Elbert County recently found that attorney Matt Roane, as a citizen of Colorado, “has a legally protected interest in having public bodies conduct public business openly in conformity with the provisions in the statute.” She denied a motion by the Elizabeth School District to dismiss a Roane lawsuit based on the argument that he “has no connection to the Town of Elizabeth.”

Now the question of Roane’s legal standing to file suit against a public body in a jurisdiction where he doesn’t reside is in the Court of Appeals, which agreed in December to let the school district immediately appeal the district court ruling. The Colorado Association of School Boards and the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance quickly submitted a friend-of-the court brief.