County Spends $128,712 In Defense of Lawsuit, Which Was Decided Against It By a Jury.
As reported by Teri Sforza in the December 21, 2010 edition of The Orange County Register, Orange County suffered an adverse jury verdict of $259,400 in an excessive force case brought by Toy White when sheriff deputies tried to take away her sheepdog Tutu. But that was not the end of the monetary compensation that had to be paid by the County.
County also had to pay attorney’s fees of $178,000 and costs of $12,000 to Ms. White.
What did the County spend in defense? Answer: $128,712, meaning that a total of $578,112 was spent on the Toy and Tutu suit.
Perhaps the most ironic twists of this whole saga is that Mission Viejo paid $24,000 to make the suit go away and that Ms. White was prepared to settle the case for as little as $70,000 at one point in the litigation.
