GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD: $100,000 MORE FOR BAD ADVICE

By Juan Montoya
Remember the $3,166,926.27 the City of Brownsville had to pay the Brownsville Firefighters Association as a result of their lawsuit involving their "Me Too" claims when the city negotiated with the Brownsville Police Officers Association?
That included the lawsuit judgement plus interest.
In another example of throwing good money after bad, the city -- heeding the advice of City Attorney Mark Sossi, and contract labor lawyers Denton, Navarro, Rocha, Bernal, Hyde & Zech -- farmed out the work to Mckibben & Villarreal, L.L.P.
They lost, but that law firm cleaned up with  73,589.73 and Navarro gleaned an extra $ 15,335.26.
 At the heart of the matter was the fact that when the city entered a negotiates settlement with the BPOA in return for dismissal of a lawsuit the union had filed. The settlement gave the police officers a bonus and pay increases in exchange for the lawsuit dismissal and certain concessions in the collective bargaining agreement that was being concurrently negotiated.

What legal eagle Sossi never realized was that in negotiating the settlement with the cops, the "Me Too" clause in the BFFA contract was triggered and they automatically were entitled to the same raises across the board. He was, in effect, negotiating a labor contract with both without realizing it.
The telling clause in both BFFA and BPOA contracts reads that: "when the city voluntarily negotiated an across the board wage increase or new fringe benefit to all the members of any Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) group, the others were entitled to a corresponding wage increase if the increase or new benefit given to the other employee group exceeded that granted...to (other) personnel for the fiscal year in question."
Sossi argued that the city did not "voluntarily" negotiate with the police and that the threat of a judgment in their favor forced the city to grant the concessions. The lawsuit, he said, was like a loaded gun held against the city's head.
The appeals court never bought that line and ordered the city to pay the BFFA.
Due to the recalcitrance of the city lawyers, the case dragged on for years (since 2008-2009) until the appeals court ruled against them in all their issues.
This is not the first time that the city commissioners have been led down that primrose path by Sossi.
He defended them when the city commission and the administration handed out health benefits, a gas stipend, and paid for their cell phones. Judge Janet Leal put an end to that after a group of citizens filed a lawsuit against the practice.
We had heard that the city was reluctant to pay fire inspectors their "Me Too" share and was toying with the idea of appealing the appeal.
Apparently, someone over at municipal thought that they had spent enough and gave the inspectors their raises.
With any luck, we may have seen the last of this type of expenditures from the city commission. We bet they wouldn't be so cavalier about spending the public's money if it came from their pocket.