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Article: EDITORIAL : RUNNING SCARED?; CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE SEEMS PRONE TO SETTLE RATHER THAN FIGHT FOR THE CITY IN COURT.(Editorial)(Editorial)
- Article from:
- Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
- Article date:
- October 27, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Daily News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WITH a staff of 390 lawyers, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office is the largest municipal legal shop in the country. In this case, bigger isn't better.
City Attorney Jim Hahn runs a very loose operation. So much so, in fact, that the city came perilously close last week to defaulting in a $2.7 million lawsuit brought by the family of a bank robber killed during February's North Hollywood shootout.
The ``excusable neglect and mistake'' excuse was even noted by U.S. District Court Judge Kim Wardlaw, who sharply criticized the City Attorney's Office for offering ``the most pathetic grounds for an excuse for failing to comply.''
It was the ...