Money Worries Spur King to Switch Lawyers : Counsel: The beating victim has rehired his first attorney, who will handle disbursement of the $3.8-million award. The L.A. City Council agrees to pay the judgment.

Concerned that his multimillion-dollar court award could be eaten away by excessive bills, Rodney G. King fired his attorney Wednesday and rehired the lawyer who first filed his police brutality lawsuit.

The shake-up came as the city of Los Angeles agreed Wednesday to comply with a jury verdict issued in April and pay $3.8 million to King for injuries he suffered in a 1991 beating by Los Angeles police officers.

Attorney Steven A. Lerman, who won back the case from Milton C. Grimes, said King is concerned that he will lose much of his award to the many people who are submitting bills to him for their work on the case--including lawyers, doctors, investigators and others. Lerman said he will administer the disbursement of the funds, which King could receive as early as next week.

“Mr. King and his former lawyer, Mr. Grimes, had some disagreement over the case, so he rehired me to resolve the dispute and effect the closure of the case,” Lerman said. “I think Rodney is concerned that the case be closed without a dime extra being paid out (to experts).

“I’m not going to let anyone play games with Rodney,” he said.

A court hearing is scheduled next month before U.S. District Judge John G. Davies to determine how much the city must pay for King’s legal bills. The city is liable for those fees, but King’s total bills are expected to greatly exceed what Davies will order the city to pay.

Lerman and Grimes have been bitter rivals for more than a year, accusing each other of poaching and subterfuge.

In a complaint to the California State Bar last year, Lerman, who had represented King since shortly after the beating, accused Grimes of stealing King as a client in late 1992 by sneaking around King’s hospital room and apartment.

Grimes, meanwhile, charged that Lerman refused to turn over all his files on the case and has been trying to influence the King family to win the client back.

Grimes, an Orange County defense attorney, was out of town Wednesday and could not be reached for comment about the latest development. Lerman, who works in Beverly Hills, was clearly pleased that he had recovered King as a client, but declined to directly criticize his rival.

“I’m not gloating over Mr. King firing Mr. Grimes and hiring me back again,” Lerman said. “I’m pleased that the King case might be wrapped up.”

Lerman said he remained in touch with King’s family during the time that Grimes had the case.

“I’ve remained very close to Rodney’s family, his mother particularly,” Lerman said. “Rodney is the only family member I haven’t talked to in the last year or so.”

Lerman said King was not available for interviews.

Meanwhile, the City Council voted 11 to 1 to pay compensatory damages ordered by the federal court jury, in the amount of $3,816,535.45 plus interest.

The same jury concluded that the police officers involved in the beating had been sufficiently punished and should not be forced to pay punitive damages to King. Grimes had sought as much as $15 million in punitive damages from the officers, saying that such a large penalty was necessary to deter similar acts in the future.

Grimes appealed the ruling on punitive damages but last week withdrew that appeal. Lerman said he agreed with that decision.

City officials said they viewed the payout as an important step toward putting an end to the King case, a painful chapter in the city’s history.

Riots swept Los Angeles in the spring of 1992 after a state jury acquitted the four police officers of criminal charges that they abused King during the beating that occurred after King was stopped for speeding on March 3, 1991.

In a subsequent federal trial last year, former police Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and former Officer Laurence M. Powell were convicted of violating King’s civil rights. Koon and Powell are serving 30-month prison sentences.

“I think that it’s time that the city put this to rest,” said Councilwoman Rita Walters, who represents Downtown and part of South-Central. “As far as I’m concerned, the amount does not compensate for the harm to Mr. King that resulted from this very unlawful beating.”

Only Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the northwestern San Fernando Valley, voted against the allocation, saying that “awarding a $3.8-million award to somebody who suffered this problem because he was violating the law is wrong.”

But others argued that the city’s culpability had been already established.

“We’ve had a trial, the trial came in at $3.8 million and all that’s before us today . . . is to transfer from one fund . . . that money which is necessary to make good on that judgment,” Westside Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said.