HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-17-2015 Jarvis, Fay, Doporto & Gibson, LLP – First Amendment to AgreementFIRST AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT
This First Amendment to agreement is made and entered in the City of San Luis Obispo on
2015, by and between the CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, a municipal corporation, herein
after eferred to as City, and JARVIS, FAY, DOPORTO &: GIBSON, LLP, a professional corporation,
hereinafter referred to as Consultant.
WITNESSETH.
WHEREAS, on March 31, 2015, the City entered into an Agreement with Consultant for
professional legal services for its defense in Palacios, el al. v. Nielsen, el al.; and
WHEREAS, work on this matter is not yet complete, and
WHEREAS, the parties seek to modify certain provisions of the Agreement between them.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of their mutual promises, obligations and covenants
hereinafter contained, the parties hereto agree as follows:
"Section 1. Term" of the Agreement is modified to increase the shall not exceed amount
to $50,000.
All other terms and conditions of the Agreement, as amended hereby, remain in full force
and effect.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this instrument to be executed the day
and year first above written.
CITY OF SAN LUIS OB1
f
y _Y
C istine Dietrick, City ttomey
7/1-7 // 5
JARVIS, FAY, DOPORTO & GIBSON, LLP
By:
Rick Jarvis
Its
Sr Manager , •
August 5, 2015
Reviewer Routing List
Reviewer Name
Date Reviewed
City Attorney
JCD
8/5/2015
Finance & Information Technology
MwP
8/7
Community Development Department
FROM:
SUBJECT:
Recommendation:
J. Christine Dietrick
jcd 8/5/15
Further Funding for Litigation Defense in Palacios v. Nielsen, et al.
1. Authorize the City Attorney to execute an Amendment to the Legal Services Agreement with
the law firm of Jarvis, Fay, Doporto (Original Agreement dated March 31 2015) increasing the
not to exceed amount from $25,000 to $50,000, for the City's legal defense in the case of
Palacios, et al. v. Nielsen, et al., as authorized by the City Council and reported out of closed
session on March 31, 2015.
Summary ofAuthorization
During the City Council Closed Session on March 31, 2015, Council authorized the defense of
the City as a party in San Luis Obispo Superior Court Case No. 15CV -0150, Gil Palacios and
Micki Howard v. Morten H. Nielsen, Hanne Sandsberg, The City of San Luis Obispo and DOES
1 to 25. That authorization was reported out of closed session in the immediately following open
session.
Due to lack of available resources in the City Attorney's office to take on another in -house
litigation matter, the City Attorney solicited proposals from two law firms on our current on -call
list, both of which have significant land use, building, and writ experience and have performed
well for the City in the past. Burke, Williams & Sorensen and Jarvis, Fay, Doporto provided
defense proposals and cost estimates. Based on the preliminary case analyses provided by the
two firms (on confidential file in the City Attorney's office), the City Attorney concluded that
Jarvis, Fay, Doporto had the more directly applicable litigation expertise for this case and
retained that firm.
The initial estimated defense costs were anticipated to be within the City Manager's contracting
authority and the Community Development Department had available budget to cover the
expenses. Thus, with City Manager authorization, the City Attorney signed a Legal Services
Litigation Defense Contract Amendment Page 2
Agreement for Jarvis, Fay, Doporto's work on this matter and $25,000 was encumbered to the
law firm from the Community Development Department budget.
Due to an Amended Complaint being filed prior to hearing on the first demurrer and the resulting
need to prepare a second demurrer addressing new issues, costs are now close to hitting the total
$25,000 cap in the current contract (approximately $19,500 through June). Additional work was
required to finish the demurrer, analyze the opposition, brief and revise the reply, and argue the
demurrer at hearing. The City received a favorable ruling on August 5, but the Plaintiff was
granted leave to amend the complaint one additional time within the next 30 days. Based on the
original proposal rates submitted by Jarvis, Fay, Doporto and the estimated remaining hours of
work, the City Manager is asked to authorize the City Attorney to sign an Amendment to the
original Legal Services Agreement adjusting the contract value not to exceed $50,000. The
additional $25,000 will be encumbered to Jarvis Fay from the Contract Services line of the City
Attorney budget to cover costs through the conclusion of the litigation. This will come out of the
$50,000 the City Attorney Department received for Contract Services as part of the 2015 -2017
Financial Plan Development Serti ices Staffing, Contract Services and CDD Reorganization
SOPC for additional legal services sup oo . We are hopeful that the matter will conclude far
under the new limit, in which case we will release the remaining encumbrance for use on other
development related legal matters.
Attachment:
1. 2_015 03 31 - sinned LSA - Jarvis Fav,pdf
2. 2015 08 - Jarvis Fay - Amendment to Agreement docx