Current and potential costs of the City of Los Alamitos’ defense against a lawsuit have some City Council members pushing to reconsider the value of the action that spurred the suit.
The Los Alamitos City Council passed an ordinance exempting itself from state law, SB54, also known as the California Values Act. The council voted in favor of the ordinance, 4-1, with Councilman Mark Chirco the lone no vote.
However, in recent meetings, Councilman Richard Murphy has questioned whether the city should continue the fight, in light of the cost already incurred and potential costs in the future. At the Aug. 20 council meeting, Murphy noted that the city could potentially pay millions if the suit were to continue through multiple appeals.
“That is a commitment I don’t know if I’m ready to make,” Murphy said.
After the lawsuit was filed, by a group called Los Alamitos Community United in April, Mayor Troy Edgar started a GoFundMe page to raise money to help fund the city’s defense. The case has had a preliminary hearing, but has yet to set a court date.
Last week, the city released a statement stating that the cost of the defense has, so far, been covered by the fundraiser. This week, a correction was released stating that the cost of suit has actually exceeded the money raised. The city stated that costs to date, are more than $91,000.
The correction released by the city read, in part; The press release incorrectly stated that “these donations have paid for all the legal fees that were incurred through July 2018.” Total legal defense costs incurred by the city regarding the California Values Act exceed the GoFundMe donations and should have been reported as totaling $91,185.21 through July 2018 (not including any offset from the GoFundMe account). The total amount of funds collected in the GoFundMe account through July 2018 was $28,500 as was correctly stated in the press release.
Despite the cost so far, three of the council members who supported the action have remained committed to seeing it through. Mayor Pro Tem Warren Kusumoto argued in an editorial that, “there is no moral victory possible if the Council reverses and rescinds our ordinance, and the State prevails and mandates how our locally elected Council can attend to our local municipal affairs,” Kusumoto wrote.
Mayor Troy Edgar echoed the sentiment, saying that he believed the state was overstepping its authority over the city. The suit is arguing that the city cannot enact an ordinance that conflicts with state law. Edgar also noted that the case has not even had its first day in court, and he is not wavering from the fight.
“I am fully committed, I feel very strongly about it,” Edgar said.
Council member Shelley Hasselbrink also said that she has not seen any reason yet to waiver from the action. Hasselbrink said that she does not agree with sanctuary cities, and that the fears of exorbitant costs are just guesses at this point.
“That has not been presented to us yet,” Hasselbrink said.
But Chirco and Murphy are seeing those costs and a matter of when, not if, at this point.
“We’re at the infancy of this lawsuit, Chirco said.
Murphy added that there are other cities, bigger and with bigger pockets who are fighting similar lawsuits and that the legality of it all will be settled with or without Los Alamitos’ efforts. And if the city losses, it could be on the hook for legal fees for the plantiffs and possibly more, Murphy argued.
“We certainly can’t afford to lose this lawsuit,” Murphy said.