O.C. has paid attorneys $500,000 to challenge pension pact with deputies.

Los Angles Times ^ | January 22, 2008 | Christian Berthelsen, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[jim_trent]

Costs are quickly mounting in Orange County's effort to invalidate its pension agreement with sheriff's deputies, public records show.

The county has already paid a total of more than half a million dollars to four law firms in the last year to research and develop a strategy for a legal challenge -- and that's before supervisors have even decided to take the case to court.

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Supervisors are expected to vote next week on whether to move forward with the case. In a recent interview, Supervisor Chris Norby said Kirkland & Ellis, the firm most recently retained by the county, believes it may have found a way to get traction on the case.

"They think it's viable, but how viable is the question," Norby said.

The legal challenge faces an uphill battle because state and federal laws, as well as constitutional protections, generally safeguard worker pensions from employers who want to roll them back.

In San Diego, lawsuits seeking to undo that city's pension agreements with public employee unions were resoundingly defeated, creating $1 million in legal bills for the city and an additional $1.5 million in attorney costs it had to cover for defendants who prevailed.

[mallardx]

If you are not a teacher, State employee, or Trooper, bagging massive six-figure salaries with matching pension for life, until you die at age 93, you are a complete sucker, like me.