As reported by Kera Abraham in a November 23, 2012 post on the Monterey County Weekly, “If lawyers are sharks, then Marina Coast Water District is one fearless surfer.”
Hawaii surfer. Charles William Bartlett, artist. 1918. Library of Congress.
The District has hired eight outside firms and rotated through three different attorneys as general counsel since January 2012, based on a public records request response obtained by the Weekly. The tab? At least $700,000 in legal costs incurred by the district this year alone. The biggest law firm recipient of fees was San Francisco-based Friedman Dumas & Springwater, receiving $491,103 for CPUC work and the appeal of the Ag Land Trust lawsuit.