June 25, 2009 in City

Lawyer off case for city

City attorney limited Oreskovich’s role in Zehm case without telling council

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A majority of Spokane City Council members expressed concern Wednesday when they learned the city has agreed to pay up to $200,000 in public funds to a private attorney who no longer represents them in a federal civil lawsuit filed by the mother of Otto Zehm.

The City Council voted twice to pay Carl Oreskovich to represent the city in the civil case. But Oreskovich said Wednesday his only client is the officer facing criminal charges in Zehm’s death.

Councilman Bob Apple was outraged and said he might ask for a full refund, while three other council members said they should have been informed before agreeing to pay for the civil defense of Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr., who now faces federal felony charges that he used unreasonable force and lied to investigators.

The council first voted in October to hire Oreskovich to represent the city, Thompson and other officers named in the civil suit stemming from the confrontation March 18, 2006, that resulted in Zehm’s death.

But shortly after that decision, City Attorney Howard Delaney and Oreskovich agreed that the private attorney would only represent Thompson, they both said Wednesday.

“Even though the resolution originally authorized him to represent the city,” Delaney said, “the tasks assigned to (Oreskovich) by me were changed fairly early on to represent Karl Thompson.”

But most council members said they didn’t know about the agreement before they voted May 26 to authorize paying Oreskovich up to $200,000 to “represent the City of Spokane and its employees.”

“Frankly, once they authorize me to have special counsel,” Delaney said, “I don’t routinely brief them on each and every thing I’m having that special counsel do, or what the assignments are.”

Four council members said Wednesday they wished they had been informed before they voted this spring.

“I did not intend to allow Oreskovich or whoever to drop representation and continue to be paid,” Apple said.

Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin doesn’t know if the information would have changed her vote. “I think I would have said, ‘Why is this one particular officer going to need more legal representation than anyone else?’ ” she said. “We have to make sure that we are extremely open when it comes to who is representing whom.”

Councilmen Richard Rush and Mike Allen said they would have preferred to have been briefed about the exclusive arrangement. “It would have raised questions,” Rush said. “The city will bear the liability of any adverse ruling by the court.”

City Council President Shogan would not say if he was aware of the agreement, adding that he would not comment about any information normally reserved for an executive session, which would be closed to public. However, Shogan said he continues to support a re-examination of the city’s representation in the case given the federal indictment.

“Whatever decisions were made in the past have to be re-examined in light of the present,” Shogan said.

Council members Steve Corker and Al French could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday, Oreskovich requested a front page correction by The Spokesman-Review for a Tuesday article that quoted a law professor about potential conflicts that could arise by Oreskovich representing the city and Thompson in the civil matter and defending Thompson in the criminal case.

The professor’s “opinion is based on the false premise that I represent the City of Spokane. Once again, I do not,” Oreskovich wrote in letter to the newspaper. “The City of Spokane is represented by the City Attorney’s Office. My client is Karl Thompson.”

Both the October and May resolutions clearly stated the council was voting to hire Oreskovich to represent “the City of Spokane and its employees.”

Legal professor Robert Aronson, who teaches ethics at the University of Washington School of Law, questioned whether Delaney had the authority to make the agreement with Oreskovich. “The problem that I see is that the City Council is the client,” Aronson said. “At this point, with their twice authorizing funds … (Oreskovich) has to withdraw from representing the council. He can’t just decide I’m not doing their work anymore because both the city attorney and private attorney agree. They don’t get to decide that without discussing it with the City Council.”

Reached late Wednesday, Oreskovich said he will work to clear up any misunderstanding.

“My contacts were through the city attorney’s office,” Oreskovich said. “To the extent that there is any confusion, you can be assured that it will be straightened out appropriately.”

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Seven comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  George Sands on June 25 at 12:19 a.m.

  Time for Delaney to leave and take his secret deals with him.

  The city council now has more mud on their faces. Imagine voting for payment to an attorney that doesn't represent the city.

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• 

  Pat OLeary on June 25 at 5:19 a.m.

  The city oozes with incompetence.

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• 

  ChefGus on June 25 at 5:26 a.m.

  Delaney should be fired by the Mayor… and she should have Rocky go out the door right behind him. The credibility and the oversight by the city council is pretty low if Mr Apple is the only brave one to speak up. Doug Clark gets it spot on today in his column. The money this will cost could break the budget. Malfeasance is the only word that comes to mind. Collusion is lurking in the dark corners here. john

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• 

  dick adams on June 25 at 7:36 a.m.

  Why the surprise with Mayor Verner`s transparent local government promise? The law firm at city hall is one of the largest in Spokane, headed up by Verner and Delaney. How many secret stunts from these two before the city council try and help out the citizens with the tools they have to prevent this stuff? How much money is underling Rocky Treppeadi allowed to flush down the toilet before the Mayor and Delaney decide to throw in the towel adding to the current huge debt (RPS, etc) the voters are paying off now?

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• 

  lewis on June 25 at 9:52 a.m.

  Cover-up, cover-up, cover-up. And I am supposed to respect those in power, nope don’t think so…

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• 

  Bob_Knows on June 25 at 10:39 a.m.

  Are the blue suit gang going to go out to the street to rob enough drivers to pay for the lieyers?

  Or, will they just put up more “traffic cameras” to rob drivers by mindless computers?

  The Council and Mayor are the ones who hire this gang of murderous thugs to rob and kill the people. They are the ones who are most responsible for the death of Mr. Zehm and all the rest of the police state violence in Spokane. They continue to protect and pay their violent gang of thugs. The lot of them needs to be run out of town on a rail by angry mobs of decent citizens.

  There was a time not so long ago when armed highwaymen were caught and hung. Now they work for the government.

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• 

  Ron_the_Cop on June 25 at 11:56 a.m.

  As I just posted in Doug Clark's column thread:

  To All and Doug:

  As a retired So Cal cop/det with over 35 years experience, yes there are things very wrong surrounding the death of Otto Zehm. However things may not always be as they first appear to be.

  Doug you are commended for keeping this case in the public spotlight.

  If you're interested in my words of wisdom you can read more here:

  Federal Civil Rights Indictment Returned in Otto Zehm Case - Spokane, WA

  http://friendsofmarkfuhrman.org/blog/…

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