Class Action

"Sixth District Lets Counties Pay on Contingency"

By Kimberly A. Kralowec

In today's Recorder, Mike McKee reports that "Sixth District Lets Counties Pay on Contingency" (subscription):

The ruling is great news for local governments, which claim they would have a hard time prosecuting nuisance abatement suits ? such as oil spill or toxic landfill cases ? without outside lawyers.

"It's important to counties and cities throughout the state," said Santa Clara County Counsel Ann Ravel, whose office was leading the lead-paint litigation at the center of the ruling, "because, due to financial issues and the size of a lot of counties' and cities' offices ? [they] can't pursue cases of this sort without the aid of contingency counsel." Government agencies, she said, simply can't afford to pay hourly fees.

Full post as published by The UCL Practitioner on April 09, 2008 (boomark / email).