"I don't think students realize how powerful they are, and I want them to realize that," Garcia said.
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Del Mar legal costs rise by $55,000
Increase comes in part from number of lawsuits college has seen recently
By Israel Saenz Caller-Times
January 14, 2007
Del Mar College Legal expenses
2000-01: $217,069.93
2001-02: $199, 810.16
2002-03: $214,341.52
2003-04: $172,133.75
2004-05: $104,585.29
2005-06: $121,610.14
2006-07: $175,000*
* Amount budgeted for fiscal year
Source: Del Mar College
Del Mar College officials expect the school's legal expenses to rise for a third consecutive year, a trend they attribute partly to increased costs for lawsuits against the college.
The amount officials have budgeted for the 2006-07 fiscal year is $175,000 - nearly $55,000 more than last fiscal year's legal expenses.
While legal costs include reviewing business and construction contracts and working with the Board of Regents, lawsuit costs have played a role in this year's increase, said Del Mar College Vice President of Business and Finance Joe Alaniz.
"At one time we were kind of mellowed down a little bit," Alaniz said. "I think (lawsuits are) picking up now."
Both Alaniz and the college's outside attorney, Augustin Rivera, said they did not know the exact number of suits currently filed against the college. The U.S. District Court database lists five cases against the college dating from March 2001 to the present.
The budgeted rise in costs is a shifting trend from earlier in the decade. Legal expenses for the 2004-05 fiscal year, which runs from September through August, were $104,585.
In the November 2004 to October 2006 time period, litigation accounted for the largest amount of expenses - $61,285. The next largest amount, $38,613, went toward legal counsel at Del Mar College Board of Regents meetings and for other board duties such as counsel for board election duties.
Alaniz estimated litigation made up about 50 percent of legal expenses in the 2005-06 fiscal year.
At least two suits are pending against the college, with two recently settled:
# Theresa Cox, the college's former equal opportunity/affirmative action, equity, access and compliance director, filed a lawsuit in Travis County against the college last July, alleging she was unfairly demoted after she began procedures to investigate a student complaint.
# Former criminology instructor Alberto Benitez filed a district court suit against the college in September 2005, charging he was unjustly terminated after he supported a student's charge of racial harassment. The student, Melody Lopez, filed a suit along with Benitez at the same time. The suits were dismissed last month.
# Former student Shari Parker filed a lawsuit against the college in district court last September, charging she was sexually harassed by college President Carlos Garcia.
Alaniz said the Benitez-Lopez suit played a role in budgeting for this year's legal expenses. The school's total 2006-07 budget is $83.4 million.
"We knew we still had the Benitez lawsuit in progress," Alaniz said. "We did not know what additional cost would be involved."
Alaniz said the college's legal expenses decreased after the college hired In-house Counsel Michael Westergren in August 2004. Del Mar College Board of Regents President Chris Adler said Rivera handles most litigation issues and open records requests. Adler said these requests have numbered at least 100 each year for the past three years.
"We respect people's right to question us, but it's going to take a lot of time and a lot of money," she said.
Adler said Westergren works as a mediator, while Rivera advises college officials on legal issues and issues pertaining to regents board meetings and elections.
"He is our authority on election law," Adler said. "He gives us constant updates on statutes to make sure we're doing things right."
College officials would not give specific amounts for how much a single dispute can cost the school, but a district court transcript of a September phone meeting between U.S. District Judge Hayden Head Jr. and both plaintiff and defendant attorneys reveals some details of what college officials did to put the case behind them.
Benitez settled with the college in September; Lopez settled the next month. Head signed an order of dismissal on Dec. 21 for both suits.
In the transcript, Head asks Del Mar attorney Ricardo Morado about the college's settlement offer.
"We have close to doubled our original offer and have based an offer on realistic data which we can back up," Morado replies.
The varied sizes and budgets of community colleges makes comparison to others' legal expenses difficult, Alaniz said.
Del Mar College's fall 2006 enrollment, 11,356, is almost 3 1/2 times larger than Coastal Bend College's enrollment, 3,255. Coastal Bend's 2006-2007 budget for legal expenses is $30,000; the amount spent in the 2005-2006 fiscal year was $26,925.48.
For Rivera's services, Del Mar College pays the local firm of Dunn, Weathered, Coffey, Rivera, Kasperitis & Rodriguez - which received $90,312.41 in the 2005-2006 fiscal year.
Between November 2004 through October 2006, the Dunn, Weathered, Coffey, Rivera, Kasperitis & Rodriguez firm earned $158,726.39 from the college. That includes the first two months of the current fiscal year, September and October, during which the college paid the firm $24,896.08.
Alaniz said officials can only estimate how much pending suits will cost the college. Adler said some litigants see filing suits as a way to get even and make money.
"People in this society have a tendency to file frivolous lawsuits," she said. "Whether it's frivolous or legitimate, we have a responsibility to defend the college."
Contact Israel Saenz at 886-3767 or saenzi@ caller.com
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okay israel i guess the "baker Botts report is technically on 5th
books as "a special as investigation" but the 104k bill was paid as a result of "legal" costs!
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