The city plans to attempt to recover “as much as possible” of about $29,000 of the recoverable costs from Molano, said Senior Assistant City Atty. Gillian Van Muyden.
The bulk of the $677,000 was spent on outside counsel.
Molano said he would fight the charge, arguing it was a way to bully him and others from challenging the city.
“It is a way of scaring the public into not filing an action against the city,” Molano said.
In 2007, Molano was ordered by a superior court judge to pay $6,900 in costs incurred by the city for the first phase of the lawsuit.
The courts have limited the proportion of fees that the city can recover from the plaintiffs.
“We wish we could recover attorney’s fees, but we can’t,” Van Muyden said.
Molano’s latest failed legal endeavor against the city also opened up an opportunity for his detractors to lay into his unrelenting agenda, which has changed little over the years.
At a time of near unprecedented budget cutting, the legal tab for the city provided city officials with what they said was a timely example of how the gadfly culture can become a very real burden on city resources.
“It was a complete and total waste of time, of city resources and of money when time, resources and money were in tight supply,” said Councilman Ara Najarian.
Post election cycle, the fervor of activism at City Hall has dropped significantly. Where there was at one point numerous activists returning on a weekly basis to tout their various issues with local government, only a couple remain.
