Case bungled all around

Today's Daily Journal carries an Erin Park story saying that the City Attorney's office spent $10 million on an outside law firm to defend the city against a lawsuit over work at the Hyperion sewage treatment plant—and after losing the case may face up to $30 million in damages and legal fees. Wait, it actually gets worse. Daniel Carvin, then a special investigator for Controller Laura Chick, four years ago sounded an alarm that the politically connected law firm, Brown Winfield & Canzoneri, was bungling the case. But he was fired by Chick, and last year received a accepted a $490,000 settlement from the city for wrongful termination. From the DJ (no link.)

Last week, a jury awarded $12.3 million to construction company Dillingham-Ray Wilson for work done a decade ago on the Hyperion treatment plant project, part of the city's effort to clean up Santa Monica Bay. The city spent a total of $10.6 million on its contract with the private lawyers, according to Jonathan Diamond, a spokesman for City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

And on top of that, the plaintiffs will seek $15 million in penalties from the city at a hearing set for Monday, as well as attorneys' fees and costs at a future hearing, attorneys said.

Dillingham-Ray Wilson filed the lawsuit in 1999, alleging the city owed the construction firm and its subcontractors $66 million for work on the project, including 20 egg-shaped digesters, pipelines and other structures. The suit alleged a breach of contract by the city and acting bad faith. Diamond said the city withheld payment because it felt it was owed that amount for liquidated and false claims damages.

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Daniel Carvin, who previously worked for the IRS and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority inspector general, raised concerns about the law firm's billing practices, as well as how the lawyers were handling the case. He sought to investigate the contract more fully, according to Carvin's attorney, Louis J. Cohen.

Three months after joining Chick's office, though, Carvin was fired...Chick, who has received contributions from Brown Winfield and its employees, declined to comment for this story...

Upon hearing about last week's verdict, Cohen laughed and faulted the city for taking the side of a "preferential campaign contributor law firm."

"Instead of taking my client's concerns seriously and evaluating the legal team, they fired my client," Cohen said. "This really vindicates what my client was concerned about."