SoccerCity, SDSU West initiatives cost the city nearly $600,000 in legal fees

The city of San Diego racked up close to $600,000 in legal costs amid its unsuccessful charge to remove dueling stadium proposals from the ballot ahead of the November election.

The SoccerCity and SDSU West initiatives — also known as Measure E and Measure G, respectively — sought to lease or buy the city’s Mission Valley stadium site for separate redevelopment purposes. Although SDSU West prevailed in the election, both measures had to fight their way to the ballot box, with the city contesting their legality in the months leading up to the vote.

San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott, with direction from City Council, tried to invalidate the citizens’ initiatives because they forced the lease or sale of the city-owned property, which had not been done before. In May of last year, her office sought, but failed to get, a court order from San Diego’s Superior County Court to remove the competing measures. The city then took the matter to the state’s appellate court, which chose not to rule on the legality of the measures.

Having failed in its pursuit, San Diego found itself with a total balance of $592,387.12 due to opposing attorneys and a consultant law firm it hired to assist on the matters.

In February, San Diego Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor ordered the city to pay $340,765.81 to the SoccerCity camp, court documents show. The sum was divided with $338,961 accounting for around 425 hours of lawyer time, and the remaining $1,804.81 covering other costs. The attorney fees were first reported by NBC 7. They were confirmed by the city attorney’s office and Mike Attanasio, a lawyer with Cooley LLP who represented SoccerCity.

Court documents show that Attansio’s hourly rate was billed at $1,230. The three other lawyers who assisted him billed hourly rates of $965, $900 and $630.

“The City Council authorized legal review of the SoccerCity initiative to protect the public’s interest in taxpayer-owned land in an unprecedented case where a developer sought to take city land without an open and competitive process,” said Hilary Nemchik, the spokesperson for the city attorney’s office. “Because the action was brought too close to the date of the election, the court declined to weigh in on the merits.”

San Diego issued a check for the court-ordered sum on May 22. Cooley received the check on May 28 and notified the court that the matter was resolved, Attanasio said.

“Our client was disappointed in the outcome of the vote, but very gratified that this litigation allowed for the voters to be heard,” Attanasio said. “This fee award confirms that that was a righteous effort.”

The city also paid $250,000 to the law firm Olson, Hagel & Fishburn, which it hired as outside counsel for the cases. The firm charged the city at hourly rates ranging from $235 to $380 based on partner seniority, Nemchik said.

Otherwise, San Diego paid $579.31 to San Diegans for Open Government, which legally intervened in an effort to dismiss the suits. It paid $1,042 to SDSU West lawyer Kaufman Legal Group for motion fees and other costs. Kaufman did not file a motion for attorneys’ fees.

Currently, San Diego State University is in negotiations with the city to buy 132 acres of the 166-acre site for a satellite campus and new football stadium. The university recently hired Clark Construction to perform site development work once it takes possession of the land, which it hopes to do by the end of January.