Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer, who is running for mayor, railed this week against a 595-page report that found that attorneys in his office took part in a scheme to settle litigation that arose from a faulty billing system used by the Department of Water and Power.
In a public relations blow to the city attorney’s office, five former and current city attorneys are accused of various ethical transgressions in violation of the state’s Rules of Professional Conduct.
The court-ordered report concluded that attorneys for the city colluded with opposing counsel to settle a high-profile class-action lawsuit, defrauding the court. Opposing counsel ultimately collected $19 million in attorneys fees, an amount investigators called “excessive, unjustified and a misappropriation of taxpayer funds.”
Two former top attorneys in Feuer’s office, James Clark and Thomas Peters, were the “shot callers” for the “sham” lawsuit against the city, investigators wrote.
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