(Updated: Thursday – Legal costs paid by Ventura County to law firms for work on the Joseph Cipollini case were obtained today and are listed below. These legal costs indicate that, so far, more than $4 million has been paid for these three lawsuits.)
BY RAUL HERNANDEZ
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. –
Ventura County has paid more than $4 million dollars to settle and defend three lawsuits filed against the District Attorney’s Office by former investigators who alleged retaliation and harassment by the office, according to information provided to American Justice Notebook by Ventura County.
One lawsuit was tried three years ago and a jury awarded former Ventura County District Attorney investigator Robert Velasquez $1.3 million as damages for retaliation. Another involving former DA investigator Mark Volpei was settled in August by Ventura County for $850,000.
Volpei alleged in his lawsuit that he was retaliated against after reporting official misconduct and alleged crimes and testifying in a sexual discrimination lawsuit against the District Attorney’s Office.
The legal costs and fees incurred by Ventura County for hiring two law firm to represent it total $2.4 million as of Wednesday, according to information provided to American Justice by Ventura County Risk Manager Chuck Pode.
Volpei who filed a retaliation lawsuit in April 2011 already had a trial date when the two sides reached an agreement in May.
A third retaliation lawsuit involving former DA investigator Joseph Cipollini is set for trial on April 7 in Dept. 3 at Santa Barbara Superior Court
Named in these lawsuits are Ventura County, District Attorney Greg Totten and other DA supervisors and employees.
On Tuesday, during a case management hearing, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle told attorneys that this is a “positively firm” day for trial.
The three lawsuits were transferred from Ventura County to adjacent Santa Barbara County because Ventura County Superior Court judges recused themselves in presiding over these cases.
The Mark Volpei Settlement Agreement was signed on Aug . 7 after Ventura County Board of Supervisors authorized the $850,000 payment to settle the lawsuit. Volpei’s lawsuit was laden with serious and possibly criminal allegations by Volpei of official misconduct by the District Attorney’s Office and others including other county officials.
The agreement also forbids attorneys and others involved with this case from discussing the terms of the settlement, and if this clause is violated, it will be considered a breach of contract where damages can be sought.
The contract also states that if Volpei’s lawyers, Lanny and Terry Tron, are asked “how the Action was resolved,” they are to respond, “The matter was resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties, or words of similar import.”
“No other statement may be made regarding this case or the Action unless required to do so pursuant to a lawful court order,” the agreement states.
In addition, Volpei and his lawyers agreed to destroy county files, e-mails, manuals, correspondence and other documents belonging to the county within three days of signing the agreement.
Outside the Santa Barbara courtroom on Tuesday, Cipollin’s lawyer, Mark Pachowicz, said these three cases are about the “district attorney’s treatment of people who testify truthfully on other cases.”
He said he plans to put Totten on the stand. The trial could last two to three weeks, Pachowicz said.
Ventura County is “spending significant amount of money” on these cases, he said.
Cipollini is also alleging retaliation because he gave a disposition in 2008 in a sexual discrimination lawsuit involving former DA investigator Tammy Schwitzer and in the Velasquez retaliation lawsuit and in the sexual discrimination lawsuit involving another female investigator Leslie Robertson.
Schwitzer and Robertson also sued the District Attorney’s Office, but Schwitzer’s case was tossed out of court, and Robertson decided to drop her lawsuit.
Cipollini claims in his lawsuit that after he did this he was harassed and retaliated against by his supervisors Wayne Simmons, Robert A. Briner and Glen A. Kitzman. Cipollini maintains that District Attorney Greg Totten could have done something to stop this but did not.
The county has denied the allegations by Cipollini through its court filings. Attorney Ed Ho, whose law firm Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo is representing the county, declined to comment.
Legal Fees and Cost for the Velasquez and Volpei Case.
As of Wednesday, Ventura County has paid the law firm of Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo of Cerritos, California, $682,398 for work on the Volpei case. Also Attorney Alan E. Wisotsky, of Oxnard, was paid $69,204 for his law firm’s work in the Volpei case.
Wisotsky’s firm tried the Velasquez case in Santa Barbara three years ago and the jury decided that the District Attorney’s Office retaliated against Velasquez. Jurors awarded him $1.3 million as damages.
The county paid Wisotsky $711,519 for the law firm’s legal work on the Velasquez case, including trying the case.
After the $1.3 million judgment, the county fired the Wisotsky law firm, which did some legal work on the Volpei case. After Wisotski was fired, the county hired Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo.
In the Joseph Cipollini case, Ventura County paid $866,718 to the law firm of Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo. Attorney Alan Wisotsky was paid $74,837 for legal work on this case, according to the county’s Risk Manager Chuck Pode.
Related Document: Mark Volpei Settlement Agreement