U.S. District Judge Guilford’s Ruling Puts Fee Recovery in Doubt.
As reported in two articles in today’s The Orange County Register (Larry Welborn’s article “Jaramillo won’t be paid by county” and Frank Mickadeit’s column “George’s lawyers: $845K or $0?”), a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford may mean that Mr. Jaramillo’s contingency lawyers could have a problematic time recovering fees for their successful efforts in an Orange County Superior Court bench trial.
Earlier, former assistant Orange County sheriff George Jaramillo won a $362,000 civil judgment in a wrongful termination case brought against the county. His attorneys took the case on a 40% contingency basis, which means they could seek fee recovery of between $150,000-$845,000 depending on where there is some doubling of certain fee components given that Orange County Superior Court Judge Andrew Banks found the county acted maliciously.
However, here is the rub. District Judge Guilford recently found that Mr. Jaramillo is not entitled to any money from the judgment because he was convicted for tax evasion and mail fraud. Judge Guilford agreed with the U.S. government’s position that Mr. Jaramillo should not receive any additional funds from the county he victimized. This ruling may well have ripple effects on the fee recovery sought by Mr. Jaramillo’s winning civil attorneys, because Judge Guilford indicated that any fees and costs awarded to Mr. Jaramillo’s attorneys must be approved by him in order to comport with his restitution order. Judge Guilford agreed that it was not his role to deal with the fees, but did indicate that he would take supervisory control over any award coming from Judge Banks.
So, we will update you on this continuing fee saga between two different court venues. Stay tuned for upcoming developments.