The County and the Water Agency are defendants in California Department of Water Resources v. All Persons Interested in the Matter, etc., Sacramento County Superior Court Case No. 34-2018-00246183, filed December 11, 2018. This Board Order authorizes the County Counsel, or her designee, to execute three agreements in connection with the lawsuit.
The joint defense and fee allocation agreement will be executed by the following co-defendants in the case - Butte County, Contra Costa County, the Contra Costa County Water Agency, Plumas County, the Plumas County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, San Joaquin County, Solano County, Yolo County, Central Delta Water Agency, and Local Agencies of the North Delta (LAND). This agreement authorizes the co-defendants to share privileged litigation-related communications and documents and describes how the co-defendants will pay the attorneys' fees and costs incurred in the litigation.
All of the above agencies, except LAND, will be represented by two law firms - The Freeman Firm and the Law Office of Roger B. Moore. The contracts for legal services with The Freeman Firm and the Law Office of Roger B. Moore authorize those law firms to represent all of the above agencies, except LAND, in this lawsuit. Under these contracts, the County and Water Agency, together, will be jointly responsible for paying one-seventh of all attorneys' fees and costs charged by the two law firms.
The County and Water Agency would not be represented by these law firms, and there would be no agreement regarding the sharing of privileged documents and communications among the co-defendants in this lawsuit.