Again Illustrating that Attorney’s Fees are the Tail that Wags the Litigation Dog . . .
Under the heading, “Pleasanton reaches settlement over housing cap lawsuit”, Robert Jordan reports in the Contra Costa Times that Pleasanton has reached a tentative settlement that will, if finalized and approved, obligate Pleasanton to pay $1.9M in attorney’s fees to Public Advocates Inc., the attorneys for Urban Habitat.
Urban Habitat had challenged a voter-approved referendum placing a 29,000 home housing cap on development. Public Advocates successfully argued the cap failed to allow Pleasanton to meet its legal obligations to provide affordable housing. The result of the tentative settlement: the cap is gone, and Pleasanton agrees to pay attorney’s fees.
Because we blawg about attorney’s fees, the following statement from Mr. Jordan’s article caught our eye:
“If the city had not settled, it could have faced paying attorney fees that could have exceeded $4 million, according to staff reports. The city also spent $625,000 for its own attorney fees.” As we constantly repeat, attorney’s fees are often the tail that wags the litigation dog.
The city council is scheduled to vote on final approval of the settlement on August 17, 2010.