SeaWorld has lost its bid to make its opposing counsel pick up a $2 million and running legal tab in a class action lawsuit over life in captivity for killer whales.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California denied SeaWorld’s motion for sanctions against Covington & Burling, which has five lawyers of record working on the case in San Francisco and San Diego. The lawsuit accuses Orlando-based SeaWorld of misleading potential visitors with false claims that captive orcas live as long as those in the wild and that babies are allowed to stay with their mothers. The plaintiffs argue they would not have purchased tickets and merchandise from SeaWorld, had they known those claims were untrue.