Local Lawsuits Cost Taxpayers Nearly $28 million

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) today released a report finding eight of California’s largest cities and nine of its largest counties spent $504.1 million to deal with lawsuits over two fiscal years.

CALA looked at monies spent on verdicts, settlements and outside counsel in fiscal years 2007 and 2008 for the counties of: Alameda, Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara and the cities of: Anaheim, Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Jose.

“California has 58 counties and 480 cities, so this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Tom Scott, CALA Executive Director. “With devastating budget cuts hitting cities and counties up and down the state, there are countless other ways this money could have been spent.”

The County of Sacramento spent $22.5 million in verdicts, settlements and outside counsel in these fiscal years and the City of Sacramento spent $5.4 million during this time. Not only are these costs outrageous in their own right, the city could have paid the salaries of 60 police officers with the money spent in just one year. The county could have could have covered more than half the costs of building a new airport traffic control tower at the Sacramento International Airport. The FAA reported the Sacramento airport ranks highest on the West Coast in collisions between birds and planes.

“We’ve already cut public safety officers. There’s no telling what’s next,” said Marko Mlikotin, CALA Northern California Regional Director. “What we should do is look at ways to more proactively cut down litigation costs to free up that money for vital services now facing cuts or elimination.”

The information compiled in the report came from public information requests of the localities. CALA released a similar report two years ago finding that three cities and four counties spent more than $276 million in litigation costs for fiscal years 2005 and 2006.

“Citizens of California deserve to know where their tax dollars are going. Budget shortfalls don’t just affect those who might lose their jobs or services they rely on, the effects ripple to the entire community and beyond,” Scott said. “That’s why CALA is calling for greater disclosure, more public oversight and adoption of aggressive risk management procedures to protect our local government coffers from the greedy hands of plaintiffs’ attorneys.”

The report can be found in its entirety here.

California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to educating the public about the negative effects of lawsuit abuse and challenging those who abuse our legal system for personal gain.