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Resolution No. 8895 :. 1 RESOLUTION NO. 8895 r:ti~L,C~. ) '~V' A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF \~ VERNON INDEMNIFYING, HOLDING HARMLESS AND ~ AUTHORIZING THE DEFENSE OF ERIC T. FRESCH, CITY \ ATTORNEY, RESPECTING LASC CASE NO. BC 331516 2 3 4 5 6 7 WHEREAS, a cross complaint against the City of Vernon and 8 Leonis C. Malburg, Thomas A. Ybarra, Hilario Gonzales, William Davis, 9 Eric T. Fresch and Bruce V. Malkenhorst, Sr., individually, has been 10 f~led in LASC Case No. BC 331516 (the "Lawsuit"); and 11 WHEREAS, Eric T. Fresch serves as the City Attorney of the 12 City of Vernon; and 13 WHEREAS, the City of Vernon has received a request from Eric 14 T. Fresch pursuant to California Government Code Section 995 to have 15 the City provide for his defense in the Lawsuit; and . 16 WHEREAS, the allegations within the Lawsuit are related to 17 actions and/or omissions taken in the course and/or scope of Eric T. 18 Fresch's duties as the City Attorney of the City of Vernon; and 19 WHEREAS, the City of Vernon wishes to indemnify, hold 20 harmless and authorize the defense of Eric T. Fresch against any 21 judgment, award, liability, costs, expenses, interest and attorney's 22 fees in the Lawsuit arising out of any act, failure to act, or 23 omission in the performance of his duties and responsibilities as an 24 officer of the City of Vernon; and 25 WHEREAS, the City of Vernon's intent to indemnify Eric T. 26 Fresch is not an admission or a determination by the City of Vernon as 27 to the merits of any claims or allegations raised in the Lawsuit. 28 / / .I 27 28 1 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE 2 CITY OF VERNON AS FOLLOWS: 3 SECTION 1: The City Council of the City of Vernon hereby 4 finds and determines that the recitals contained hereinabove are true 5 and correct. 6 SECTION 2: The City Council of the City of Vernon hereby 7 indemnifies, holds harmless and authorizes the defense of Eric T. 8 Fresch against any judgment, award, liability, costs, expenses, 9 interest and attorney's fees in the Lawsuit arising out of any act, 10 failure to act, or omission in the performance of his duties and 11 responsibilities as an officer of the City of Vernon. 12 SECTION 3: The City Council of the City of Vernon hereby 13 approves and authorizes the expenditure of General Fund monies to pay 14 any judgment, award, liability, costs, expenses, interest and 15 attorney's fees in the Lawsuit. 16 SECTION 4: The Acting City Clerk of the City of Vernon 17 shall certify to the passage of this resolution, and thereupon and 18 thereafter the same shall be in full force and effect. 19 APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 9th day of November, 2005. 20 21 22 23 24 25 ~ . \ ./ -Eo~!:or ATTEST: {~ ~ 26 BRUCE V. MALKENHORST, JR. Acting City Clerk - 2 - SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS ~b~' ~~(ls ARNOLD & PORTER LLP Eric L~ Dobberteen Eric_Dobberteen@aporter.com 213.243.4055 213.243,4199 Fax 44th Floor 777 South Figueroa Street Los Angeles, CA 90017-5844 November 30, 2005 Mr, Eric Fresch c/o City of Vernon 4305 Sante Fe Avenue Vernon, California 90058 Dear Mr, Fresch: We are very pleased that you have engaged Arnold & Porter LLP, a limited liability partnership organized under the laws of the District of Columbia (the "Firm") to provide legal services to you in connection with certain litigation involving the City of Vernon and Eduardo Olivo, The purpose of this letter is to set forth our mutual understanding as to the basis on which our fees and related expenses will be charged with respect to this matter. 1. Fee Calculation, The Firm will charge you for professional services based on the time we spend on your matters, You should be aware that our billing rates are reviewed at least annually, usually in January of each year, and may be modified to reflect changes in our cost structure and related market conditions. Our charges will include the time of attorneys and, where applicable, other professionals and paraprofessionals, These charges will also include the time recorded on this engagement by secretaries and word processing personnel. While some firms have elected to recover such elements of overhead through their basic charges for legal services,' we believe it is ,more appropriate to charge our clients for such services only to the extent they are used in a particular engagement. 2. Reimbursement for Expenses. In performing this engagement, we will inevitably make disbursements and incur internal charges on your behalf. These are likely to include such items as travel and transportation expenses (including subsistence expenses while on travel); charges for long distance telephone calls; express delivery and postage charges; duplicating charges; expenses associated with overtime work; and any special computer, data processing, or similar expenses that are beyond the capacity of the Firm's existing system We will bill you at cost for charges paid to third parties, and charges for internal services will be billed at the Firm's usual and customary rates for such services, A schedule of our current charges for expenses is attached, Washington. DC New York London Brussels Los Angeles Century City Northern Virginia Denver ARNOLD & PORTER LLP Mr. Eric Fresch November 30, 2005 Page 2 If, in the course of the engagement it is necessary for the Firm to arrange for the services of other outside counsel, experts, or consultants, or to incur other major expenses on your behalf, we will arrange to have the charges for such services or items billed directly to you, unless other arrangements are agreed to between us, 3, Statements for Fees and Expenses, On a regular basis, generally every month, the Firm will send you a statement covering our fee charges and expenses, providing all such reasonable detail as you may require. All'such statements are due and payable within 30 days following your receipt of them We understand that internal accounts payable processing may occasionally cause delays in the payment of our statements, and I am sure that you understand that undue delays in the payment of our statements increase our costs in providing legal services to all of our clients. For this reason, and in order to avoid burdening clients who pay our statements promptly with the costs we incur when others are late, the Firm reserves the right to impose an additional charge of 1 percent per month from the statement date if statements are not paid in a timely manner, In this regard, we understand that our fees will be paid by your employer, the City of Vernon, In the unlikely event the City fails to payout statement, the firm reserves the right to seek payment from you directly. Pursuant to Part 137 ofthe Rules of the Chief Administrator ofthe New York Courts, we advise all our clients that, if a dispute arises over our fees, and our representation has involved work by a New York attorney and a material amount of work in New York, you may have the right to arbitration of this dispute, 4, Waiver, Arnold & Porter LLP lawyers are located in seven cities both in the D.S, and abroad and the Firm represents thousands of clients each year. So that we are not unnecessarily conflicted from representing you or our other clients, we routinely ask clients for advance waivers of conflicts of interest in matters distinct from the subjects onwhich we represent them Thus we request an advance agreement from you that Arnold & Porter LLP will not be disqualified by reason of our representation of you from representing interests adverse to you in litigation, transactions or other matters that are not substantially related to the matters on which we have been retained by you, This waiver and consent would not permit us to represent interests directly adverse to you in matters that are substantially related to the work done for you, And, of course, we will hold your confidences and secrets in confidence. 381865_1.DOC ARNOLD & PORTER LLP Mr, Eric Fresch November 30, 2005 Page 3 This will also confirm our understanding that, unless we reach an explicit understanding to the contrary, we are being engaged by, and will represent, you andnot any other individual or entity, including the City ofVemon, If you have any questions about understandings as described above, please let us know, If the tet1llS of the engagement are acceptable to you, I would appreciate it if you would sign imd return to me the enclosed copy of this letter, evidencing your agreement to these terms, I also ask that you obtain the signature of an appropriate representative of the City acknowledging its understanding and acceptance of these terms, Once again, let me say how pleased we are that you have engaged Arnold & Porter LLP in this matter. Sincerely yours, v/ Eric L. Dobberten ACCEPTED AND AGREED TO: ~T~ BY:-~ Of1t,g~ Name:Thomas A. Yba ra For the City of V ernon Attachment (Expenses Charged to Clients) 381865 _l.DOC Attachment EXPENSES CHARGED TO CLIENTS As of July 1, 2005 CHARGES PAID TO THIRD PARTIES Disbursement Category Standard Client Charge Transportation Allowance cost Meal Allowance cost Other Computer Research cost Telephone cost Travel cost Local Transportation cost Local Meals cost Outside Duplicating cost Equipment & Furniture Rental cost Postage cost Air Delivery Services cost Meetings & Functions cost Consulting Fees cost Filing Fees cost Depositions & Transcripts cost Witness Fees cost Costs of witness fees Description Taxi or Parking charge for employees who work in excess of 2 hours overtime Meal reimbursement (not to exceed $10 ($12-NY) for staff) for meals incurred by employees who work in excess of 2 hours overtime Excludes Lexis and Westlaw, Includes Dialog, BRS, Newsnet, etc, Cost of long distance telephone calls Costs of airfare, travel agency fees, meals, lodging, etc. Costs of taxis, subways, etc, Costs of meals not incurred on travel status Costs of duplicating jobs sent to outside vendors Only charged when preauthorized by client Cost of metered usage Includes Federal Express, DHL, etc, Costs of meals and beverages provided at meetings Costs of consultants, outside experts, etc, Costs of court and agency, filing fees Costs of depositions, transcripts, etc. CHARGES FOR INTERNAL SERVICES Category Standard Client Charge Lexis Computer Research Vendor list price usage/connect/printing charges discounted by 40% Westlaw Computer Research Vendor list price usage/connect charges discounted by 80%, Duplicating $0.15 per copy $0.75 per copy - Color $0.45 per copy - Oversized Note: Pricing for individual duplicating jobs in excess of 25,000 prints may be individually negotiated Binding No charge Telecopy No charge, charged for actual cost oflong distance calls if applicable -2-