Recent Orange County Register Article Reports What Happened.
In a March 21, 2021 article by Roxana Kopetman in The Orange County Register (you can access the online version here), there is a report of the attorney’s fees expended in various disputes between the Orange County Board of Education and School Superintendent Al Mijares, many about a 2018 case resulting in a 22-day trial (but settled subsequently) over the hiring of a general counsel for both the Orange County Department of Education/Orange County Board of Education and other related disputes. Here is the tab to taxpayers as of February 24, 2021 on the main dispute: (1) $1,737,873 to attorneys representing the Board; and (2) $1,446,606 to attorneys representing Mr. Mijares. (As part of the settlement, the Board may continue to use the attorney of its choice as long as there is no conflict of interest, and Mr. Mijares has to pay some remaining invoices to Board’s attorneys, although no one was declared the prevailing party to prevent a future fee motion dispute.) There is other litigation over who has financial control over the department’s budget, with the County paying $91,319 to Board attorneys and paying $36,812 to attorneys representing Mr. Mijares in this battle. On March 15, 2021, the Board has signed a retention agreement to hire general counsel (the attorney preferred by the Board) for rates running from $155 an hour for paralegal services to $355 an hour for work by one of the firm’s partners, according to the newspaper report.