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Tehama, others to contribute for lawyer
Prosecutor to help get larger environmental settlements for county
Photo by Tim Hearden / Record Searchlight
Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen talks to the Board of Supervisors about a proposal to join other rural counties in hiring a prosecutor to help win legal settlements with polluters.
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Tehama County will join other rural counties throughout California to hire a lawyer to bring home a larger portion of the payout in big environmental settlements.
Some 20 counties have agreed to spend a combined $236,000 from a multijurisdictional legal settlement with Home Depot to hire the circuit prosecutor, who will work through the California District Attorneys Association. Tehama's share of the bill is about $15,000.
Rural counties' district attorneys decided to band together after watching larger counties like Los Angeles, Alameda and San Joaquin walk away with the lion's share of money won in several settlements with companies that were sued for polluting.
"It's very hard to predict, but instead of receiving $8,000 or $20,000 ... it could be hundreds of thousands of dollars," Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen said. "It all depends on the case."
Cohen developed the idea of joining forces with other small counties after Tehama received an $8,000 check in 2006 as a result of a $25 million multijurisdictional settlement with AT&T California, which had allegedly failed to test and repair hundreds of underground fuel tanks on its properties.
The idea gathered steam last year when Home Depot agreed to pay $9.9 million in civil penalties and other costs after a 2004 fire in one of its Southern California stores sparked an investigation. The fire started when the contents of a 55-gallon drum exploded.
That case was brought by the California attorney general, the city of Los Angeles and the district attorneys in Los Angeles, Monterey, Riverside, San Joaquin and Santa Clara counties. Los Angeles County's DA got $837,000 from the settlement while the Los Angeles County Fire Department got $250,000.
Having their own prosecutor will give rural counties "a seat at the table" in negotiations, Cohen said. Money from environmental settlements would have to be spent locally to enforce environmental laws, or it could go back into the fund for the prosecutor, he said.
Reporter Tim Hearden can be reached at 529-5110 or at thearden@redding.com.
Posted by dingweed on September 28, 2008 at 4:01 p.m.
and you wonder why prices go up, lawyers is the answer
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