Employments Issues Made Up Over Half the Cases.
In an interesting article in the February 16, 2011 edition of The Sacramento Bee, Brad Branan reports that Sacramento County saw its legal costs rise 28% to $14 million in the last fiscal year.
The reason for this climb was higher claim payments, with Sacramento County retaining six law firms to defend the county against claims. Countywide, over half the cases involved employment issues such as discrimination, while the remainder involved bodily injury or property damage. The Sheriff’s Department had more claims defended than any other department. Mr. Branan did note at the end of his publication that the Sheriff’s Department’s percentage of cases has gone down from what they were five years ago (at that time, it was responsible for more than half of county claims).