Controller's Website Shows LA Paid Out $19.7M In Legal Settlements Since July 1
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Since July 1, the City of Los Angeles has paid $19.7 million in legal settlement costs in amounts ranging from $35 to $2.5 million, according to a second set of data released online.
An update Monday to Controller Ron Galperin's "Control Panel LA" website, which was unveiled last month at https://controllerdata.lacity.org, includes information on the city's revenue and spending as of October, as well as payroll information as of the end of September.
The update includes more details about liability claim payments the city made during the past three fiscal years. The website previously lumped together several settlement payments into one, reporting that the city paid $108.7 million since June 2011, but without providing information about where each individual payment went.
In Monday's update, each payment is shown individually, and can also be organized by month and fiscal year. In most cases, the data shows which law firms were paid and when.
A monthly breakdown of the legal settlement payments shows the city paid more than $30 million in October 2012. The City Council that month approved $31.5 million to settle a lawsuit related to the upgrade of the Hyperion Treatment Plant. The largest chunk of that settlement, $14.2 million, went to contractor Dillingham-Ray Wilson, J.V.
The update also shows newly elected Mayor Eric Garcetti was paid $50,607 for his first three months on the job.
Antonio Villaraigosa, whose second and final four-year term as mayor ended June 30, was paid $9,591.29 during the July-through-September period, even though he was no longer in office. It's unclear what he was paid for, and an aide to Galperin says an explanation of what Villaraigosa was paid for would soon be given.
The first wide release of accounting data on Galperin's website last month only showed salaries up until the end of June, before Garcetti, Galperin and City Attorney Mike Feuer took office July 1.
As in the first data release, the names of city employees and elected officials are not included next to their salary and payroll information. While most of that data is public information, the controller is still weighing some safety and legal issues tied to releasing some of it, his office said.
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