Litigation Costs Bakersfield $5.4 million over 2 years - Kern County Impacted for $2.4 million

KERN COUNTY, 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.”

Kern County spent $2.4 million in litigation costs in these two fiscal years and Bakersfield spent $5.4 million during this same time. Not only are these costs outrageous in their own right, the money spent by the City of Bakersfield in one year could have more than paid for its entire Parks and Recreations program. In Kern County, one year’s litigation costs could have paid the salaries of 43 firefighter apprentices.

“Kern County and its largest city, Bakersfield, have certainly not been immune to the budget cuts affecting so much of California,” said Tracy Leach, CALA Central California Executive Director. “It is disheartening that vital programs get cut while litigation costs continue to run unchecked.”

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, grass-roots organization dedicated to educating the public about the negative effects of lawsuit abuse and challenging those who abuse our legal system for personal gain.