Thread: Farmers Branch given plaintiff legal bill in battle over ill

Farmers Branch given plaintiff legal bill in battle over illegal immigrant ban

11:05 PM CDT on Friday, September 26, 2008
By FRANK TREJO and STEPHANIE SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News


Farmers Branch was hit Friday with a request for $480,000 to cover the legal fees of a group that successfully sued over one of the city's attempts to ban apartment rentals to illegal immigrants.

That's more than half what the city has spent since 2006 on its legal fight to rid the city of illegal immigrants.

Filings from two other organizations that challenged the measure – the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas – were not yet available.

The fees are for work done to block Ordinance 2903, which sought to prevent apartment owners from renting to illegal immigrants.

The city's voters overwhelmingly approved the ordinance in May 2007, but it was struck down earlier this year by U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay.

Judge Lindsay also ordered the city to pay plaintiff legal fees.


Michael Jung, an attorney for Farmers Branch, said the city will carefully review the $480,000 request, which came from lawyers with the Bickel & Brewer Storefront. The city could challenge the amount.

"At first blush, this indicates what we have suspected all along – that this effort on the plaintiffs' attorneys' part really is about the money rather than the principle," Mr. Jung said. "It's an effort to make the litigation expensive in the hope that Farmers Branch will back off. We have the full support of the voters and the council, and we intend to see this through."

Whatever the city eventually pays will come on top of more than $924,000 it has spent to defend its series of three rental ban ordinances against lawsuits.

The city repealed the first council-approved ordinance in early 2007.

After Judge Lindsay ruled against 2903, a similar ordinance that the City Council approved in January was to have gone into effect this month.

But U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle recently blocked enforcement of that measure until a separate lawsuit against it is decided – if necessary, in a trial to take place by December.

According to a document submitted to the court Friday by James S. Renard, a partner with Bickel & Brewer, attorney fees for the plaintiffs were more than $638,850, but the firm sought a smaller reimbursement – $450,000 plus $30,000 in court costs.

The statement noted that any profits generated by the Bickel & Brewer Storefront go to the Bickel & Brewer Foundation, which funds charities.

William W. Brewer III, of Bickel & Brewer, said the request was "not only reasonable but understated."

"We spent far more and thought we were being conservative in the application we presented," he said.

City Manager Gary Greer has said he will decide this weekend whether to appeal the ruling against Ordinance 2903 or forgo further appeals and pin the city's hopes on the latest measure, Ordinance 2952.

Unlike Ordinance 2903, the new measure applies to rental houses in addition to apartments.

And while the earlier ordinance required landlords to determine renters' immigration status, Ordinance 2952 leaves that task to city officials using a federal database. Partly for that reason, Mr. Greer said, Ordinance 2952 is more likely to withstand legal challenge.

In lean economic times, he said, "we have to try to spend our dollars as wisely as we can."

Judge Boyle has said preliminarily that she considers Ordinance 2952 an unconstitutional attempt by the city to regulate immigration, which is the domain of the federal government.

She also said the federal database that the city plans to use to check renters' immigration status appears to be intended only to help determine which immigrants are eligible for benefits, not which ones are in the country legally.

Mayor Tim O'Hare said he and other city leaders have told residents all along that the fight to keep illegal immigrants from living in the city would be protracted and expensive.

But, he said, he still expects the city to prevail. Otherwise, he said, "we would stop this course of action."

www.dallasnews.com

They should counter suit the government for not E-Verifying I-9s since 1986.

The statement noted that any profits generated by the Bickel & Brewer Storefront go to the Bickel & Brewer Foundation, which funds charities.



I hope that Farmers Branch looks into the "charities" allegedly benefitting from these legal fees. It would come as no surprise to find that much of this money is funneled to MALDEF. and other pro-illegal organizations, as well as into the personal bank accounts of individuals.



Judge Boyle has said preliminarily that she considers Ordinance 2952 an unconstitutional attempt by the city to regulate immigration, which is the domain of the federal government


It is NOT unconstitutional for a city,county, or state to expect that those renting properties are not renting to criminals and/or others.....of ANY race, national origin, or status.....who pose concerns for the health, safety, and welfare of the community at large.

It is also NOT unconstitutional for any locale to enact laws and ordinances guaranteeing the health, safety, and quality of life for it's residents. In fact, the landlord/tenant laws of most states generally are very specific in that regard.

It is also NOT unconstitutional for any locale to require licenses for renters. There are a great many places which do so.

Personally, I see no reason why Farmers Branch cannot eventually get to the point where they want to be. Perhaps they just need to modify the way in which they are going about it.