Routine lawsuit sparks spat over legal fees between Sacramento, prominent attorney

A routine lawsuit settlement involving Sacramento officials and a homeless woman has turned into a spat between the city and one of the region’s most prominent civil rights attorneys over lawyer’s fees.

This week, attorney Mark Merin confirmed that he had agreed to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of a homeless woman who said police rousted her from a camp near the American River in January 2020, giving her five minutes to gather up all her belongings and leave.

Evelyn Alfred said the rush to get her out of the camp resulted in her losing many of her belongings — including her false teeth and mother’s wedding ring — that were scooped up by an excavator claw and tossed in the trash.

Merin said he agreed to settle the suit for a payment of $15,000, and City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood confirmed in an email statement to The Bee that the case was settled to “compensate her for the value of her lost possessions of $6,500.”

“The remainder of the settlement is her lawyers’ fees,” the city attorney added.

That set Merin off, who said he had no idea where Alcala Wood got her figures and fired off an email noting that under his standard fee agreement Alfred received 60% of the settlement, or $9,000.

“If you were accurately quoted, I would appreciate your correcting your statement,” added Merin, who routinely donates his time and services to clients and has won huge amounts fighting for civil rights, including a $15 million settlement in 2004 after the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office strip-searched six environmental protesters arrested on misdemeanor charges.

“Thank you for this note,” the city attorney replied in an email Thursday. “It’s good to learn that Ms. Alfred received additional compensation.”

But Merin said the issue is larger than a spat over how much is paid out in attorney’s fees.

He said Friday that he routinely files “fairly small claims which could be resolved right off the bat if they would sit down and talk and review evidence and come to a fair evaluation without spending all that time and effort and money that ends up costing the taxpayers.”

The Alfred lawsuit is an example of that, he said.

Merin filed a 21-page lawsuit in Sacramento federal court on April 8, 2020, with the city filing answers to the complaint twice and demanding a jury trial.

Merin said the city could have taken more time evaluating claims that are filed with the city before the process leads to a lawsuit.

“Let me take this opportunity to suggest that more efforts be made at the notice of a claim, preceding filing of a lawsuit, to investigate and resolve the claim without the necessity of litigation,” Merin wrote to the city attorney. “In this case, the city took the deposition of Ms. Alfred, which must have cost the city over $1,000, and engaged in extensive discovery efforts.

“I would estimate that your office spent well over 50 hours on this case at an estimated expense well in excess of $5,000 in a fruitless effort to defend the claim. I have always been open to discussion of claims against the city for constitutional violations with the hope that some of them could be resolved more quickly, with less total cost to the city and to the claimant.”

Alcala Wood responded to Merin’s email promising to pass his advice on.

“I will share your thoughts on the city’s response to the claims process with my client,” she wrote. “I agree that there is always an opportunity to improve city processes.”