Countywide : ACLU Seeks $138,215 in Legal Fees in Jail Case

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking $138,215 in attorney fees and court costs from Orange County as reimbursement for its legal challenges against overcrowded conditions at the County Jail.

In court documents filed by ACLU lawyer Richard P. Herman, the ACLU is seeking reimbursement for its efforts in obtaining a contempt of court citation and a $50,000 fine against Sheriff Brad Gates and the Board of Supervisors.

County officials were critical of Herman’s request and predicted that they would oppose the fee award at a Nov. 18 hearing on the issue before U.S. District Judge William P. Gray.

“That’s outrageous and it strikes me as a totally unreasonable figure,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley said of Herman’s request.

“There have been some negotiations between counsel for the county and Mr. Herman about what portion of his fees the county should pay, and I don’t recall any of the amounts discussed coming anywhere near the figure he’s seeking,” Riley said.

Gates was unavailable for comment. The Board of Supervisors is a co-defendant with Gates in the ongoing jail overcrowding litigation.

Gray found Gates and the county in contempt of court last March for failing to alleviate overcrowded conditions at the jail. He levied a fine of $50,000 against the county, which has been applied to the salary of Lawrence G. Grossman, a court-appointed “special master” whom Gray picked to investigate county compliance with his orders.

Since then, the county has taken emergency measures to reduce overcrowding, including inmate transfers to the Theo Lacy minimum-security facility in Orange and expansion of the James A. Musick Honor Farm in El Toro. Also, Gates barred all state and federal prisoners from the county’s main jail in Santa Ana.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Herman’s fee petition included 44 pages of inmate interview records and other documents itemizing 345 hours of attorney time spent on the case, plus the court clerical charges that he incurred in pursuing the case.

The court last July awarded Herman $39,000 in attorney fees in a separate case against Gates and the county involving use of improper disciplinary measures against jail inmates.