Tim Willert
GLENDALE CITY HALL -- Since 1999, the city has paid outside attorneys
more than $700,000 to defend against legal challenges mounted by Gregg
Development.
That amount is expected to increase dramatically now that the city has
hired a prominent San Francisco law firm to help fight the Greggs' latest
and potentially most financially damaging lawsuit over the failed Oakmont
View V development.
"It's going to be high," City Atty. Scott Howard said Tuesday of the
amount the city expects to spend on the Greggs' latest challenge. "It's
going to be at least in the six figures."
The city has retained Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger to assist Sohagi
and Fox, the city's outside counsel.
Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger -- a firm specializing in high-profile
land-use cases -- will be paid $225 per hour for its services, the same
amount the city pays Fox and Sohagi, Howard said.
The City Council on April 16 approved retainer agreements with both
firms to represent Glendale in the latest Gregg lawsuit. That lawsuit
alleges that by rejecting the proposed hillside development, the City
Council committed inverse condemnation -- that it took steps to
essentially condemn the property.
The agreements contain a budget and fee cap, but Howard said the
agreements are confidential and declined to disclose the amounts.
"I'm not letting Mr. Gregg know what the city is planning to spend,"
Howard said. "It's hard to predict what a case is going to cost. There
are so many factors. If we have to go to trial or appeal, the cost just
mushrooms."
The city, meanwhile, has paid Fox and Sohagi nearly $725,000 over the
past three years to represent the city in two separate lawsuits brought
by the Greggs.
The lawsuits allege delays by the city in processing the Oakmont
environmental documents.
The Greggs are seeking unspecified damages in the third lawsuit, which
was filed last last month.
Spokesman Allen Brandstater has said the amount could climb into the
"tens of millions of dollars."
"If we do win, the city will be doing without a lot of libraries,
parks and fire trucks in the years ahead," Brandstater said Monday.
"Maybe the City Council should think about this."
Brandstater questioned the city's decision to retain more outside
counsel.
"One wonders why we have a city attorney at all," he said. "Why don't
we leave all of the litigation to outside, expensive counsel and be done
with it?"
