Tulare is suing former City Attorney Heather Phillips and her law firm, Goyette and Associates.
A complaint filed December 11 in Tulare County Superior Court on the city’s behalf alleges Phillips was negligent in her representation of Tulare’s interests. The filling also alleges Phillips and her firm failed to provide adequate accounting for the $30,000 a month fee they charged, and the group used the payments from the contract to gain “unjust enrichment.”
Representing Tulare is Visalia-based attorney Leonard Herr. Phillips could not be reached for comment.
No Accounting
According to the complaint, during the 13 months Phillips served as Tulare’s city attorney beginning in June of 2017, her firm failed to provide any accounting for the $30,000 monthly retainer it charged.
Terms of the the contract between Goyette and Associates and the city allowed the firm to bill $170 to $190 per hour for attorneys’ time, and $125 an hour for paralegal work and clerking services. Any remaining balance was to be returned to the city. According to the filing, none of the fees paid were ever returned.
The suit also alleges payments of the $30,000 fee were not held in trust for the city, but instead deposited into the law firm’s bank accounts.
“The money collected by G&A was not deposited in a trust account for city or otherwise maintained by G&A for the benefit of clients,” the city’s complain states. “Rather, the entire amount of fees delivered to G&A from city was kept by G&A for its own use.”
Incompetent Service
The suit also claims Phillips “failed to competently provide legal service.”
Specifically, the suit alleges Phillips’ failure to act on a public records request led to the city settling a suit against it at a cost of $32,500. She also failed to file a tax lien against a business that was then sold, causing the city to fail to collect on the unpaid tax bill, according to the filing.
Finally, the suit alleges poor advice given by Phillips led to the six-month suspension and eventual firing of former police chief Wes Hensley. The suit claims Phillips advised the city manager to fire Hensley “when a multi-month investigation failed to give rise to cause for termination.”
The suit requests the city be compensated for general and special damages caused by its former attorney and her firm. The city is also asking for attorney’s fees and other costs associated with the suit, the return of unused fees and “further relief as the Court may deem proper.”
http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5623787-Toggle-Description-City-of-Tulare-v-Heather.html