Breakdown on legal costs for Calif. prison cases
Feb 11, 2013, 9:25 AM
(AP) – Here’s what California taxpayers have paid for lawyers, court-appointed overseers and experts involved in the two major federal court cases over prisoner medical and mental health care between 1997 and 2012:
_Inmates’ attorneys (lead firm, Prison Law Office, Berkeley), medical lawsuit: $8.3 million.
_Inmates’ attorneys (lead firm, Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld, San Francisco), mental health lawsuit: $19 million.
_Court-appointed receiver’s attorneys and experts, medical lawsuit: $7 million.
_Court-appointed special master and experts, mental health lawsuit: $48.4 million.
_Private lawyers hired by the state, medical lawsuit: $14.3 million.
_Private lawyers hired by the state, mental health lawsuit: $714,312.
_Justice Department attorneys representing the state, medical lawsuit: $589,797. (asterisk)
_Justice Department attorneys representing the state, mental health lawsuit: $3.5 million.
Total legal costs for medical and mental health lawsuits: $101.8 million.
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Figures for 10 other state and federal class-action lawsuits over the treatment of adult and juvenile inmates, some of them resolved, show the state has paid:
_$83.2 million paid to law firms representing the interests of inmates, including the Prison Law Office and Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld.
_$16.2 million for court-appointed special masters and experts.
_$2.3 million for private lawyers hired by the state.
Total: $101.7 million.
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(asterisk)The Department of Justice bills state departments it represents in lawsuits for the cost of the defense.
Sources: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, California Department of Justice, Office of the Receiver.
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