The lawyers who successfully sued the county to scrap its 2011 redistricting map are asking a federal judge to award them nearly $7 million in legal fees and related costs — a claim County Attorney Thomas Marcelle blasted as “so unreasonable as to almost border on unethical.” But the attorneys countered in their court filing that the bill is entirely county leaders’ fault — first for shortchanging minority voters and then for twice failing to approve settlements that would have capped the bill “because of political bickering among themselves.” The county “cannot escape the inarguable reality that each and every dollar of any fee award to plaintiffs’ counsel is a product of defendants’ recalcitrance,” they wrote.
At issue now is how much the attorneys ought to be reimbursed for nearly four years of litigation required to force the county to comply with the Voting Rights Act and to draw a fifth legislative district in which minority voters are a majority.
The attorneys — Paul DerOhannesian II of Albany and a New York City-based team from the firm Gibson Dunn — contend the request “serves the public good” because the reason the law allows them to recoup fees is to encourage lawyers to take risky cases to protect people’s rights.
Sometimes, they argue, that requires a large out-of-town firm unfettered by local politics.
Full Article: Lawyers want $6.9M from Albany County for redistricting case – Times Union.