A recent spate of ads will be costing Metro rather than serving as a moneymaker for the transit agency.

Metro is paying $35,000 as a settlement of legal fees to a group that won a federal court battle over posting four ads in the system, as first reported by the Legal Times. But the cost of the settlement may be offset somewhat when fees brought in by the ads and the subsequent counter-ads are taken into account, leaving Metro potentially short by less than $20,000.