Updated at 6:12 p.m. with comment from Dallas County Democratic Party chairwoman Carol Donovan.

The Dallas County Republican Party will have to pay more than $51,000 to Dallas County Democrats for attorney fees incurred in defending the GOP's attempt to remove dozens of Democrats from election ballots.

In his final order for the case, state District Judge Eric Moyé ordered the plaintiffs to pay Democrats for the work of three lawyers in the case. The bulk of the $51,600 — more than $32,000 — was awarded to the Dallas County Democratic Party to pay its lawyer in the case, Randy Johnston. The action came after Moyé dismissed the case late last month.

"This is totally a self-inflicted wound on the Republican Party," Johnston said Monday. "I told them from the start this was a fatally flawed, frivolous lawsuit, but no one would listen. They attacked the trial judge, they attacked the Democratic Party Chair, and they attacked 127 qualified candidates. And they lost it all. Totally self-inflicted and they have no one to blame but themselves."

Elizabeth Alvarez Bingham, the lawyer for the Dallas County GOP, said she had not seen Moyé'sorder. She said state law "exempts us from attorney fee awards because we used a public figure" to file the case. Missy Shorey, the Dallas County GOP party chair, was the plaintiff.

Bingham, who earlier argued unsuccessfully that Moyé should be removed from the case because he recused himself on another ballot challenge, said she was told she had until Monday to argue against her client having to pay lawyer fees.

"We are deeply disappointed in the way in which this matter has been handled by the court," Bingham told The Dallas Morning News. "We think the basis for our motion to recuse has been borne out. My client will not be treated unfairly by a jurist, and continue on as if it never happened."

Republicans argued that 127 Democrats were ineligible for the March 6 primary because Dallas County Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Donovan did not "sign" candidate petitions that must be certified and forwarded to the Texas secretary of state. The number of candidates that would have been affected dwindled to 82 after the primary.

Lawyers for Democrats countered that Texas election law does not require Donovan to sign the candidate petitions, and that the issue was moot because the election had already begun. Johnston also argued that Shorey did not have standing to bring the suit.

The lawsuit, to a degree, created divisions within the Democratic Party. In March, Dallas lawyer Chris Hamilton criticized Donovan for not signing petitions in his bid to unseat her as leader of the party. Hamilton, however, did agree that the lawsuit was frivolous.

Donovan soundly beat Hamilton for re-election, and most Democrats stood by her during the turmoil.

"Justice was served," Donovan told The News Monday. "The Republican counsel unfairly, and unprofessionally, blames the judge for her loss, and she fails to mention two important facts: First, the judge gave her several opportunities, but she failed to file a response, and she failed to provide applicable case law to support her claim. Second, a Republican appellate judge agreed with the trial judge's refusal to recuse himself. These are intentional omissions by an attorney who will not own up to her own mistakes."

Bingham said the deadline had not passed for the plaintiff to file an objection.

"This level of impartiality is far too brazen to be permitted in a fair and free society governed by the rule of law," she said.