LEGAL COST-CUTTER FIRED; BOARD WANTS TO KNOW EXACTLY WHY MANAGER TERMINATED DESPITE REDUCING LITIGATION EXPENSE.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON  Staff Writer

Responding to the surprise firing of a manager who helped cut Los Angeles County's litigation costs nearly in half in recent years, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich on Tuesday asked the county counsel for a written report on the situation.

The move comes after Litigation Cost Manager Robert E. Nagle wrote a letter to the supervisors, appealing his firing by County Counsel Ray Fortner.

Fortner did not return calls seeking comment. Nagle said Tuesday that Fortner had terminated him without giving him a reason.

``I've enjoyed working for the county and I believe I've accomplished everything that they have demanded of me,'' Nagle said. ``I am seeking to get reinstated.''

Fortner's recent termination of the county's first litigation cost manager also drew strong criticism from the office of Supervisor Gloria Molina.

Molina had joined with Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke in 2002 to urge that the county hire an independent litigation cost manager.

Molina and Burke called for a ``round-table'' process in which departments, the County Counsel's Office and risk management would work together to develop the best legal strategies for each case.

At the time, the county's legal costs -- which include judgments, settlements and outside legal fees -- had jumped from $89 million in 1999-2000 to a record $109 million in 2002-03.

After Nagel was hired in 2003, the tab dropped to $64 million in 2004-05. The most recent report puts the cost for the first three quarters of 2005-06 at $53 million.

Gerry Hertzberg, deputy chief of staff to Molina, said Fortner did not notify the supervisors that he was going to fire Nagle.

``It was shocking that all of a sudden he was fired,'' Hertzberg said. ``The general concern the supervisor has is really about the big issue of litigation cost management. We don't want to be wasting millions upon millions of dollars to settle or try lawsuits, dollars that should be going to police, fire protection and those types of things.''

As far as the supervisors knew, Hertzberg said Nagle had been doing a good job in cutting costs. However, Hertzberg noted that the amount of settlements and judgments -- after dropping from $63 million in 2001-02 to $27 million in 2004-05 -- had crept up to $41 million in 2005-06.

That increase, Hertzberg said, followed a reorganization in Fortner's office that reduced Nagle's power and authority over the handling of lawsuits.

``We noticed a couple of cases where the procedures being put in place -- round-tables, preparation of case management plans and oversight procedures -- were being skipped,'' Hertzberg said. ``They were being ignored. We ended up with some massive judgements.''

In response, Molina asked the auditor to determine whether the County Counsel's Office was following the new litigation management procedures. The audit has not been completed yet.

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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