Monday, March 5, 2012 – 10:30 a.m.
The recent attempt by the city of Upland to wrest control of its ever burgeoning legal costs has fallen flat.
Bad news for a city facing mounting financial troubles.
Last Tuesday the city council began exploring, without success, the reason for its escalating legal payments to the Los Angeles-based law firm of Richards Watson and Gershon.
Signs are ever present that the city’s leadership has abdicated control to its lead attorney William Curley.
A prime example of this abandonment is the reason given to city leaders over the approximately $5 million expenditure to defend a lawsuit brought by San Bernardino County to recover a portion of the $102 million Colonies settlement.
A fee amount that would have settled Upland out of the litigation more than twice over.
Sources say legal counsel explained to city leaders that what they paid was a bargain since San Bernardino County had spent roughly $30 million in pursuing its case.
And they (city leaders) actually bought it!
It was an explanation sounding good on the surface, but nothing more.
First, San Bernardino County is pursuing not only Upland, but the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG).
Second, these are two agencies with extensive legal resources that have much more to lose than Upland.
Third, since San Bernardino County is the moving party and bears the burden of acquiring evidence to prove its case, it must spend more.
The justification given by Richards Watson and Gershon would appear to be self-serving and disingenuous.
But it’s the city council and city manager that fall for these half-baked excuses.
Oh, and did we forget to mention the city blowing a half million dollars unsuccessfully fighting a medical marijuana establishment.
There’s only one party laughing all the way to the bank here.
That party being the city’s lawyers.
This is business as usual. I have been watching various City Attorneys in California and Nevada in action for over 40 years. The next one I see take an action based on minimizing the amount of their attorney fees will be the first.
Also, it’s my understanding that the City of Upland could have settled out for $1 million. If that’s true, the City has paid attorney fees in an amount that could have settled the action FIVE times over.
This is just with RWG. Add up all the other attorneys the City is using for frivolous, uneeded and unwarranted lawsuits. Someone needs to tell theses guys to quit their personal vendettas at the cost of the citizens!
This is a train wreck that started years ago. The end is near.
Until the Upland citizens get out the people that caused the “train wreck”, nothing is going to change. Down the toilet Upland goes! One piece of good news – Fire Chief’s last day March 31. Brace yourself Uplanders, Afterwards, Upland finds out how much damage this idiot has caused!
@FedUp – lets hope and trust Dunn investigates the Fire Chief before he is allowed to depart. If Dunn doesn’t do it, maybe our hope and trust can lie with Filippi and/or Stone. People can not begin to comprehend how much this one bad apple has cost the city of Upland, not only in money but in integrity, honor and respect.
You can tell people are seeing Antonucci for what he is. Even his supporters have abandoned him. The question is, when is the city going to do something about all this mess, created by this one individual?