COUNTY OF ORANGE LEGAL BILLS HIT $1 MILLION MARK IN SUP. MOORLACH'S EFFORT TO CUT DEPUTY SHERIFF PENSIONS
 County Records Show Legal Bills Now Total $1,002,678.75 Through June 2008

SANTA ANA - County of Orange legal bills for Orange County Board of Supervisor John Moorlach's effort to significantly cut deputy sheriff pensions in Orange County now total over $1 million, county records show.

The bulk of the $1,002,678.75 in legal bills the county has run up through June of this year has gone to Kirkland & Ellis, a law firm the County Board of Supervisors chose to hire at the urging of Moorlach after three previously hired firms each told the board the county could not win a litigation effort to slash deputy sheriff pensions.  The three different outside law firms were paid a collective total of $282,872.44 for their advice.

"The county has spent over $1 million in taxpayer dollars on lawyers for a frivolous lawsuit three other outside law firms told them they could not win," said Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriff President Wayne Quint.  "... and that is only after five months of litigation.  The case has just begun." 

"Washington, D.C. lawyers do not come cheap," continued Quint.  "Plane flights, hotel rooms, and rental cars add up quickly.  It is very telling that this is the only firm the county could find to agree to take their case.  To quote John Moorlach in a speech he made in 2000 to the Orange County Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, 'County agencies should become more accountable to taxpayers for the lawsuits they file.  ...every time you hire an attorney, the only person who wins is the attorney.'  Well - the attorneys are making out like bandits in this case."

The County of Orange filed their lawsuit against the Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS) on February 1 of this year in an attempt to invalidate a pension increase the County Board of Supervisors had voted to grant county deputy sheriffs in 2001.  The County recently lost their effort to have the case tried in Orange County courts and this week the California Attorney General and California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) announced that they would file an amicus brief in support of the Deputy Sheriff's efforts. 
 

COUNTY OF ORANGE LEGAL BILLS FOR PENSION LITIGATION
(through June 2008)*

Law Firm                                                                         Amount Paid
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP                                  $  99,598.40
(Jan. 1, 2006 to Dec. 1, 2007)

Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen                                     $125,561.04
(Jan. 1, 2007 to Dec. 1, 2007)

Snell & Wilmer LLP                                                         $  57,713.00
(June 30, 2007 to Dec. 1, 2007)

Kirkland & Ellis LLP                                                          $719,806.31
(June 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

TOTAL LITIGATION COSTS BY COUNTY       $1,002,678.75