Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> Honorable Dixie Kaetsu <br /> <br /> February 27, 2006 <br /> <br /> Page 3 <br /> 3. The Office should, if necessary, recommend legislation that <br /> assigns liability for litigation losses to the responsible County <br /> agency. <br /> Rationale: Making County agencies responsible for litigation <br /> losses will enhance agency awareness of and sensitivity to risks, <br /> and give great Incentive to minimize risk. <br /> This recommendation has not been implemented. <br /> This has not surfaced as a significant area of concern for our office, as we <br /> <br /> are proud to report the attorneys in our Litigation Division have saved the County <br /> <br /> significant expense by getting many lawsuits and claims dismissed in court <br /> <br /> through summary judgment motions. Consequently, there has not been <br /> significant strain placed on our office settlement account, nor inordinate demands <br /> placed on the County's self-insurance fund. <br /> This is not to suggest the County has not paid out significant sums of <br /> money in court judgments. There have been a number of cases where simply <br /> put, the County was found at fault, and we have accordingly paid.' Further, our <br /> fellow County departments are not reckless with respect to their activities, so <br /> there has not been a need for us to examine implementing an "incentive" as <br /> provided in the above recommendation. <br /> 4. The Office should reconsider the practice of periodically and <br /> routinely reassigning secretarial staff to different departments <br /> and agencies. <br /> Rationale: Although routine, periodic reassignment of attorneys <br /> may be appropriate to afford staff counsel with valuable <br /> experience in dealing with varied legal issues, similar <br /> reassignment of secretaries can result in loss of efficiency and <br /> continuity for the "cilent" department or agency. <br /> The recommendation has been implemented. <br /> With the exception of reassignments occasioned by the introduction of <br /> new legal clerks, very minimal "shuffling" has occurred over the past few years. <br /> A significant move by our office has been assigning each legal clerk one <br /> litigation division attorney and one advisory division attorney. This has provided <br /> ' In every one of these major cases, post-trial briefings with affected departments are wnducted <br /> as part of the risk management process to ensure problems are corrected and steps taken to <br /> avoid a subsequent recurrence. This has included revisions of Police general orders, additional <br /> training for County personnel, and other remedial activity. <br /> <br />