Another Attorney’s Fees Issue In the News …. City of San Francisco Considers Settling A Contract Dispute Where Substantial Fees At Play

City Faces Potential $13 Million Hit, But Will Consider Recommendation to Settle for $5.9 Million.

     City of San Francisco suffered an adverse jury verdict in a contract dispute with Transdyn Controls and Cresci Electric Inc. The jury found that the City improperly withheld $2.3 million in payments, eventually awarding damages of $3.6 million. With interest and court costs, the $3.6 million swelled to $4.9 million.

     However, the real exposure was for possible future attorney’s fees—the joint venturing contractors were going to seek $6.5 million more in fees from the City.

     Given the fact that City could face up to $13 million in monetary exposure (if fees were fully awarded), it is now considering a recommendation to settle for $5.9 million. The Board of Supervisors will vote on the recommendation today.

     For more details, see John Cote’s story, “Saving millions (kind of),” which is posted and available for reading as of June 16, 2009 at SFGate (with the articles coming from the San Francisco Chronicle).