Faced with numerous pending suits, Luzerne County government’s law division is seeking $750,000 for special legal services next year — a $150,000 increase.
More than 25 active suits in various stages are currently outstanding against the county, including employment claims filed by former workers and matters involving Children and Youth and the prison, some dating back several years, records show.
The special legal services earmark pays for outside legal counsel, settlements and other expenses associated with litigation against the county that are not covered by insurance.
The rationale for upping the allocation was not publicly discussed during the law division’s budget presentation Monday.
Instead, Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo explained pending litigation projections in a closed-door executive session with council before her budget briefing, citing legal confidentiality.
Spending on special legal services was budgeted at $450,000 in 2016 but ended up totaling $985,719, according to the county’s proposed 2018 budget.
The county budgeted $600,000 this year, the budget says.
Among the litigation settlements and awards approved this year:
• $378,428 to former county veteran affairs director Richard Wren to cover a $200,000 jury award and Wren’s legal fees in a suit over his 2009 termination. The county’s total payment came to $523,932 because its own legal fees were $145,504. The $150,000 insurance deductible did not apply because the insurer had wanted to settle the matter.
• $12,000 to Y. Judd Shoval to end his litigation against former county controller Walter Griffith over an alleged unauthorized audio recording.
• An undisclosed settlement with Nichole Puscavage and Anthony Cook to end their litigation against the county and its Children and Youth agency over the January 2015 death of their 21-month-old son, Anthony Puscavage.
• $35,000 to former Emergency Management Agency worker Loretta Presto to close out litigation alleging unfair treatment due to her disabilities.
• $3,000 to former 911 telecommunicator Debra Pac, who alleged wrongful termination.
The law division’s overall budget request is $2.463 million, a net increase of $98,254 after some cuts were factored in. That total includes funding for the conflict counsel department, which steps in to provide indigent defense in criminal cases when the public defender’s office has a conflict of interest.
During Monday’s session, Councilman Eugene Kelleher asked Crocamo if she has too many attorneys, pointing to an argument that the county home rule structure’s creation of a central law office would be more efficient.
Crocamo said her office has four full-time solicitors, including herself, and five part-time attorneys in addition to an administrative assistant. A comparison to attorney staffing before the January 2012 conversion to home rule would require research, Crocamo said.
She rattled off examples to show she and her attorneys are busy. Staff lawyers processed 193 Right-to-Know requests this year to date, handled more than 200 tax assessment challenges and researched legal issues for county council and many other departments, she said.
As of last week, staff attorneys reviewed 930 county contracts this year to date, with more pending.
“We are going to get inundated before the end of the year. I can tell you that because it happened last year, and I was stunned,” Crocamo told council members.
Staff lawyers also provide in-house legal representation for some litigation, but Crocamo said she would have to restructure her office and increase staff to defend the county in complex suits.
Conflict counsel administrator John Hakim, an attorney, told council his office employs five full-time attorneys and an administrative assistant.
Hakim said his department handled defense in 931 of the approximately 4,200 criminal cases in the county last year. This year, the caseload in his office was 719 through the end of September, he said.
