Study reports that South Gate Managed to Convert Some of Its Legal Bills into Lucrative Enterprise

The Los Angeles Times reports, that many municipalities from across the Los Angeles County have been facing steep legal fees, as a direct result of local corruption scandals. The legal costs associated with having to defend a city from related lawsuits, and from “cleaning up the mess” that is left, can be a daunting financial task for cash strapped municipalities. This can cause great financial difficulties for a city that already had its coffers dwindled by corrupt officials, reports the Los Angeles Times.  

Cities that fall victim to corruption have faced trouble for the most part in their attempts to go after entities that are involved with corruption.

However, South Gate was cited as the exception to this, in reference to their successful lawsuits, which resulted in $8.5 milion for a trash collecting company, and $3.5 million from a law firm that was associated with doing city work during the time of former city treasurer Albert Robles, who is currently serving in prison for corruption in South Gate.

Raul Salinas, City Attorney for the city of South Gate, claimed to the Los Angeles Times that successful litigation became a “profitable enterprise,” for South Gate.

"We went after the [alleged] bad guys. We spent money, but we made more money than we spent. That's a good thing," said Salinas to the Los Angeles Times.

Out of the compiled list of Los Angeles County cities, South Gate recorded attorney fees of a little over $1.8 million for 2011. The latter sum was 2 percent of the city budget, and $6 per capita of or all residents, according to the Los Angeles Times data table.

Click here to see all of the numbers from the rest of the cities, and see how South Gate compares.   

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