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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 02231988 - 1.108 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FROM: PHIL BATCHELOR Cwtra County Administrator Cto DATE: February 5, 1988 COJ "1 SUBJECT: PAYMENT OF ATTORNEYS APPOINTED BY THE COURTS IN PUBLIC DEFENDER JOB ACTION CASES . SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION S) & .BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Authorize the County Auditor-Controller to use funds appropriated in Budget Unit 0248 (Conflict Defense Services) for payment of claims of private attorneys appointed by the courts in those criminal cases resulting from the recent public defenders job action. 2. Approve procedure recommended. by County Administrator for payment of such cases as detailed below. FINANCIAL IMPACT: From December 21, 1987 to January 5, 1988, the deputy public defenders of this County took a job action in which they refused to represent new criminal cases. Since the County is required to pay for the defense of indigents in these cases, pursuant to Penal Code Section 987.2, the County Administrator's Office, in cooperation with the Municipal and Superior Courts, quickly devised a procedure to provide for the orderly appointment of private attorneys for those criminal defendants who were refused service by the Public Defender's Office. In order to minimize the cost of these private attorneys, the Municipal Court judges agreed to refer all new out of custody cases refused service by the Public Defender's Office back to the Public Defender by continuing cases for future appearances. These cases were subsequently absorbed into the public defender caseload once the job action ceased. However, the judges did have to appoint attorneys in new in-custody cases. During the time frame of the job action, there were approximately 500 such cases requiring the judicial appointment of private attorneys. It is anticipated that over the course of the next two to three years, this will cost the County an additional $250;000. In order to minimize costs and to insure consistency with the Conflict Defense Program of the Bar Association, all of these attorneys were appointed subject to the condition that the fee schedule used by the Bar Association would apply. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS/BACKGROUND: In order to pay the cases appointed by the judges during the job action, the County. Auditor-Controller has requested that the Board approve the account from which payment would be made. Recommendation #1 requests that your Board authorize payment out of the Conflict Defense Budget Unit 0248 as the most appropriate place from which to take the required payment. This will, of course, at . some point require that additional funds be added to this budget unit to take into account these n ated increased costs. With CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X__- YES SIGNATURE; es X RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION O BOARD COMMITTEE X APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE S : ACTION OF BOAR4 ON F A:'PROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT Z— ) XIM CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: IDES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: � — ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ONF THE DATE SHOWN. cc: ATTESTED F~B N 9 Auditor-Controller, Attn. Lois Desmond 3 7988- ----- - -- County Municipal Court Administrator PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF Superior Court Administrator SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Administrator, Bar Association Criminal Conflict Program CAO-Justice System Programs BY �����oi.� _—_,DEPUTY Payment of Attorneys Appointed by the Courts in Public Defender Job Action Cases February 5, 1988 Page 2 respect to Recommendation #2, the County Administrator is proposing that the administrative unit of the Criminal Conflict Program of the Bar Association process the claims of these private attorneys appointed by the judges in the specified job action cases and forward them to the court for payment authorization. The Criminal Conflict Program would follow the same procedures it now follows for conflict cases, which consists of administrative and peer group review of submitted claims. Claims not consistent with the approved Program fee schedule are returned to attorneys for revision and resubmittal. In addition, claims are often reduced before payment is made. This procedure will insure that the fee schedule under which these private attorneys were appointed will be consistently applied within the County, thus protecting the overall integrity of the Bar Association's conflict program. The details of this procedure have been developed in cooperation with the Auditor-Controller, the Bar Association Criminal Conflict Program, the Superior Court Administrator, and the County Municipal Court Administrator. Adopting this procedure for payment of these claims will increase the administration budget of the Bar Association's contract approximately $2,000 - $5,000 this fiscal year. However, handling of these claims through the Bar Association's claims processing procedure is a cost effective approach to follow since the procedure includes detailed review and reduction in claims when appropriate. CONSEQUENCES OF NEGATIVE ACTION An alternative procedure to follow in processing these attorney claims would be to have the individual judges review and authorize payment as was done in the past. Not only would this impose unnecessary administrative tasks upon the judges but, more importantly, would result in the application of different standards in processing claims and inevitably would result in problems about the interpretation of the fee schedule in paying attorneys and, in some instances, payment of higher than necessary amounts.