Legal News

Arbitrators and Court-Appointed Counsel Will Be Paid By City, Official Says

By Brian Harris

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

Court-appointed counsel and arbitrators will be among the thousands of vendors getting paid their back bills from the city.

There have been concerns that many court-appointed counsel couldn't pay their personal bills without getting paid by the city and that many cases are being delayed because experts like investigators and psychologists won't work on cases since they haven't been getting paid right away.

Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Sayde Ladov said she spoke with Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everett Gillison Thursday morning, and Gillison told her that arbitrators and court-appointed counsel will have their bills paid by the city.

Ladov said she didn't know if the Defender Association of Philadelphia will be paid among the vendors. The association took out a loan in order to pay for its bills because it hasn't been getting its contracted money from the city. The Legal was not able to immediately confirm if the Defender Association also is going to be paid.

The details of the loan are being worked out, so it's not yet clear when the payments will start.

The city of Philadelphia can make the vendor payments after securing a $275 million loan from JPMorgan Chase. Earlier this summer, the city stopped almost all vendor payments except for employees, debt service and emergency matters to conserve cash flow. The city is facing $700 million in reductions in municipal governance unless a bill to raise the city sales tax and adjust pension payments is approved by the state.

The likelihood of the bill passing in the House of Representatives Tuesday appears to be uncertain because the city's union representing police officers, white-collar workers and others are lobbying against the bill.

The bill already passed in the House and the state Senate, but the state Senate attached many amendments including changes to the city's pensions that the unions oppose. If the bill does not pass Tuesday, Mayor Michael A.  Nutter said that in order to balance the city's budget as required under law and without any additional revenues, libraries will have to close, 3,000 workers will get lay-off notice and the courts may be closed down because the mayor has vowed to not fund the courts if city's funding is not increased through the sales tax-pension bill.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on September 04, 2009 (boomark / email).