The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that the city of Virginia Beach must be more forthcoming in detailing how it spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees in a dispute involving an office building it purchased and a local dentist who had been a tenant.

The seven-member court on Wednesday said a circuit court judge was too generous in agreeing with the city’s position that the request for an accounting of counsel fees and expert fees was exempt from disclosure because of the attorney-client and work-product exceptions under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.