Another plea for decency

I'm a few days late to this but it was great last week seeing the Austin American-Statesman editorial board admonish the city over its treatment of Glen and Mindy Shield, the Southeast Austin couple whose home was severely damaged by careless APD officers.

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Adam Loewy is one of the top injury lawyers in Austin and very active in Texas politics. While he often disagrees with Jack Craver’s opinions, he’s proud to support independent media.

Here's the most important part:

Austin police and state SWAT officers caused about $23,000 in damage when they tore through Glen and Mindy Shield’s home in 2023 — despite an officer warning they were at the “wrong frickin’ house.”

But the city refused to admit it was wrong, refused to make the couple whole.

Instead, City Hall has spent six times that amount — nearly $146,000 so far — on attorneys’ fees to fight the couple, who sued last summer. How does that make sense?

Even worse, City Council recently voted to raise the litigation budget for this case to $609,500 — 26 times the original damage to the Shields’ home. Such a high cost represents a mathematical and a moral failure.

Indeed, even if fighting the Shields were morally defensible, the amount the Law Department is requesting to pay outside counsel is insane and reflects how little confidence the city has in its own team of attorneys.

In an email to a Council aide that she later shared with me, Rebecca Webber, a veteran attorney who has negotiated numerous police brutality settlements with the city, called the amount Council authorized "jaw dropping."

"I don't understand how Council allows City Legal to abdicates its responsibilities with these very pricey contracts," she wrote. "Unlike a typical defense counsel contract, there is no adjuster involved to monitor costs and resolution opportunities...I fear there is no incentive for outside law firms to resolve cases when they have this much runway to bill and bill and bill."

When she recently deposed a police officer, she said, "no one from city legal even bothered to come or even listen in."

Back to the Statesman editorial:

Mayor Kirk Watson, who voted with the council majority to fund the legal fight with the Shields, noted the budget grew because the couple’s lawsuit requires the city to “respond to countless discovery requests” and review “over 2,000 documents and hundreds of audio and video recordings.”

Well, yes. But that's only because they sued – two years after the city refused to do the right thing!

Then there was this gobbledygook from Watson:

"The city wants to and works to resolve litigation in a way that balances the specific facts and circumstances with a desire to work toward the most appropriate resolution for all involved,” Watson told our board.

I don't know what that means. I don't think he knows either.

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