Cost increases for county contract with Gumport law firm
A Los Angeles attorney who has represented the county for the last decade in a lawsuit stemming from the biggest corruption scandal in county history is expected to have his contract increased by $45,000.
Leonard Gumport has collected more than $9.7 million in settlements and judgements stemming from a 2000 lawsuit involving more than 20 defendants, including former top county officials and contractors convicted of bribery and other charges.
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is expected to approve an amendment to Gumport's contract by $45,000, which will bring the total amount of his contract to $3.9 million.
Gumport initiated a lawsuit against key defendants in the decade-old corruption scandal following the adjudication of the defendants' criminal case. It involved former top county officials and contractors enmeshed in bribery and kickback schemes in the 1990s in exchange for lucrative billboard and trash hauling contracts.
"This was, and is, as important as any of the cases I've ever handled," Gumport said Monday.
In December 2007, a state appellate court upheld a May 2005 judgement of $10.6 million against former county administrative officers Harry Mays and James Hlawek, former trash company executive Kenneth James Walsh and billboard company, Oakridge Group Corp., owned by William "Shep" McCook.
The county named in its suit Norcal Waste Systems, the firm in which Mays and Walsh worked and which secured a contract with the county in exchange for bribes. The company settled with the county for $6.5 million and lost its contract.
Former county supervisor Jerry Eaves, also accused of taking bribes from Oakridge Corp., pleaded guilty in 2004 to violating state conflict of interest laws.
Appeals to the state Supreme Court following the December 2007 judgment were denied, paving the way for the county to collect its more than $20 million in settlements and judgments.
Other defendants named in the suit included former county treasurer-tax collector Thomas O'Donnell and former county investment officer Sol Levin.
Gumport's firm is still enforcing the judgments and settlements, and officials cannot say how long it will take before he collects the remaining $11 million still owed to the county.
Tuesday's expected action will be the eleventh time the Board of Supervisors has amended Gumport's contract, which started in 2000 at $3.5 million, said Daniel Haueter, assistant county counsel.
Gumport was also commissioned by the county in 2005 to investigate a questionable purchase of surplus county land by Jim Foster, former chief of staff for former Third District Supervisor Dennis Hansberger. He also investigated a lobbyist's alleged involvement in the purchase of the Maranatha Corrections Facility in Adelanto.
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