MTA to audit attorney fees

Alarmed by soaring legal costs, the Metro board voted unanimously Thursday to spend up to $400,000 on an audit that would track the transportation agency's legal expenses and weed out "rogue litigators" who bill for work they never do.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The 11-0 vote supported a motion by MTA board member and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was particularly upset about the $30 million spent so far on a lawsuit filed in 1995 by the Sylmar-based Tutor-Saliba Corp. in connection with the Red Line subway that runs from Union Station to North Hollywood.

Ridley-Thomas said $10 million of the total may have been spent without approval of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors.