Thread: AZ. Taxpayers could dodge SB 1070's legal costs

Taxpayers could dodge SB 1070's legal costs

The courtroom battle over Senate Bill 1070 began Thursday, but the legal fight has been going on almost since the legislation became law in April.

One provision in the immigration law allowed Gov. Jan Brewer to hire a private firm to defend her office rather than rely on Attorney General Terry Goddard’s staff.

This could lead to sizable legal bills, but taxpayers may not have to pay much.

Brewer has hired Snell & Wilmer to represent her in the cases. According to terms of the deal, John Bouma will get $450 an hour for his services. Bob Henry will get $350 an hour, and others will get between $225 and $350 per hour.

There are multiple suits that could go on for months, maybe years. That means big legal bills are likely.

The state faced several suits over its 2008 employer-sanctions law, and they are headed to the U.S. Supreme Court this fall. As of early June, those cases, handled by lawyers for the state, had cost taxpayers $116,000, records show.

The top two attorneys in those cases logged 660 and 377 hours. Others recorded a combined 354 more hours.

If the SB 1070 litigation follows the same pattern, it would cost $297,000 for lead counsel alone. For all the lawyers, it would cost $509,000. This doesn’t include paralegal services or related costs, such as travel or transcriptions.

For taxpayers, the bill could be closer to zero.

A legal-defense fund has drawn donations from every state in the country and taken in more than $1.3 million as of Thursday and could wind up covering most, if not all, the costs. Of course, the U.S. Justice Department has filed one of the suits, so all taxpayers will help cover its costs.

SB 1070 could pose other legal bills for the public, however.

With fears that it will lead to racial profiling, the law could attract a slew of civil rights claims against police around the state. These cases, even if frivolous, can drain public money, too.

Between 2004 and 2009, authorities resolved 438 civil-rights cases of all types against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, county records show.

Claimants got nothing in 406 of them. The remaining plaintiffs collected $1.3 million, and taxpayers spent $2.9 million defending all the suits.

As of June, there were 67 more civil rights cases pending that had cost taxpayers another $1.7 million in legal expenses so far.

There are millions in other costs and savings expected to stem from SB 1070, though experts say it's unclear what its net effect will be yet.

--Ronald J. Hansen

Friday, July 16, 2010 at 09:00 AM

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/LiveWire/90529

Why aren't the ACLU and other groups who file these suit forced to pay the legal fees when they lose? After all they get tens of millions every year from the Ford Foundation.

RELATED

Arizona immigration law costs $77K to defend so far

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-206027.html