Studio City Resident, ACLU Sue County for Legal Bills

Studio City resident Eric Preven and The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed lawsuits at the end of October against the County Board of Supervisors for failing to disclose legal bills for lawsuits over the alleged mistreatment of prisoners in jails overseen by the sheriffs department, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Preven, who's been vocal against public officials, and the ACLU say that during fiscal 2011-12, lawsuits against the Sheriffs Department cost $37 million, and during the first six months of 2013, the county's legal costs totaled $25 million, not including the private lawyers the county paid to defend the Sheriff's Department. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that the ACLU suit, filed on Oct. 31 in Los Angeles Superior Court, said some of the law firms the county has engaged to defend against the jail lawsuits “may have engaged in ‘scorched earth’ litigation tactics and dragged out cases even when a settlement was in the best interest of the County or when a settlement was likely.”

A county spokesman told the WSJ they absolutely believe in transparency but, being in the middle of a case, do not want to reveal any information that would weaken its position. They added that public records request for the disclosure of the legal bill invoices gives the plaintiff's lawyers an "unfair playing field."

Once Preven's request for the legal invoices was denied in March, the ACLU got involved, the WSJ reports.

Click here for the LADN story and click here for the WSJ story.