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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCota Cole, LLP 2014-04-09Cota�jColel,P A T T O R N E Y S C6U- Nn • i�l � � -- G Slo Dennis M. Cota William R. Galstan Derek P. Cole Jason S. Epperson Scott E. Huber Sean D. De Burgh David A. Prentice Jonathan E. Miller Daniel S. Roberts Stephanie C. Ogren Margaret Long Shilpa M. Girimaji Jeremy B. Price Carolyn J. Frank Scott E. Huber REPLY TO: D RosEVILLE 11 ONTARIO shuber@cotalawfirm.com ❑ MADERA ❑ REDDING April 9, 2014 Jane Chamber, City Manager City of Ukiah Ukiah Civic Center 300 Seminary Ave. Ukiah, CA 95482 Re: Appointment of Receivership for Property Located at 272 N. State Street, Ukiah, CA 95482 Dear Ms. Chambers: ABOUT OUR REPRESENTATION Cota Cole LLP is pleased to represent the City of Ukiah, in the above -captioned matter. Specifically, our representation will include initiating litigation for the appointment of a receivership over the property located at 272 N. State Street, Ukiah, California 95482. This letter constitutes our agreement setting forth the terms of our representation. CONFIDENTIALITY AND ABSENCE OF CONFLICTS An attorney-client relationship requires mutual trust between the client and the attorney. It is understood that communications exclusively between counsel and the client are confidential and protected by the attorney-client privilege. To also assure mutuality of trust, we have maintained a conflict of interest index. The California Rules of Professional Conduct defines whether a past or present relationship with any party prevents us from representing you. Similarly, your name will be included in our list of clients to ensure we comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct. We have checked the following names against our client index: David J. Rapport, Rapport and Marston; City of Ukiah; Questex, Ltd; Eladia Laines-Ganulin; Thomas J. Vuyovich; Marty R. Ganulin; Peter Sal Fazio; Shari Anne Fazio; Henry Gardella; Headlands Press, Ltd.; and Mark Adams. Based on that check, we can represent the City of Ukiah's interests, through {SEW00030168. J 2261 LAVA RIDGE COURT 730 N. I STREET, SUITE 204 3401 CENTRELAKE DRIVE, SUITE 670 457 KNOLLCREsP DRIVE, SUITE 130 NTARIO, CA DDING, CA RTEL 916-780-9009 viLLE, CA 1 '� �TELD 559-675-9006ERA, CA 7 OT 909-230112091 10 RTEL 530-722-94092 FAx 916-780-9050 FAX 559-675-9050 FAx 909-937-2034 FAx 530-722-9428 Letter Agreement Cota Cole LLP and City of Ukiah Date: April 9, 2014 Page 2 your firm, in the above-described litigation. Please review the list to see if any other persons or entities should be included. If you do not tell us to the contrary, we will assume that this list is complete and accurate. We request that you update this list for us if there are any changes in the future. YOUR OBLIGATIONS ABOUT FEES AND BILLINGS The billing rate for this matter will be billed at $250 per hour for attorneys with six or more years of experience, $225 per hour for attorneys with less than six years of experience, and $135 per hour for paralegals. We will bill you monthly for all services provided. As we discussed, you and/or the City of Ukiah will pay all amounts billed up to $20,000. After reaching that threshold, you and/or the City of Ukiah will pay all actual costs (such as court reporter fees, expert fees, copying charges, etc.) as well as $100 per hour for all professional services charged. The balance of the professional services will be deferred and will not be due or payable until the termination of our firm's representation, or until termination of the receivership. The memorandum attached to this letter describes the other aspects of our firm's billing policies. You should consider this memorandum part of this agreement as it binds both of us. For that reason, you should read it carefully. FIRM STATUS Cota Cole LLP is a partnership. Dennis M. Cota is the Managing Partner, and Derek P. Cole, Scott E. Huber, David A. Prentice, Daniel S. Roberts, Jeremy B. Price, Margaret Long, and Carolyn J. Frank are Partners. William R. Galstan, Jason S. Epperson, Sean D. De Burgh, Jonathan E. Miller, Stephanie C. Ogren, and Shilpa M. Girimaji are employees of the firm. INSURANCE We understand that you are not now insured or have any insurance that may cover potential liability or attorneys' fees in this case. If you think you may have such insurance, please notify me immediately. We are also pleased to let you know that Cota Cole LLP carries errors and omissions insurance with Lloyds of London. After a standard deductible, this insurance provides coverage beyond what is required by the State of California. NEW MATTERS When we are engaged by a new client on a particular matter, we are often later asked to work on additional matters. You should know that such new matters will be the subject of a new signed supplement to this agreement. Similarly, this agreement does not cover and is not a commitment by either of us that we will undertake any appeals or collection procedures. Any such future work would also have to be agreed upon in a signed supplement. {SEH/00030168. } Letter Agreement Cota Cole LLP and City of Ukiah Date: April 9, 2014 CIVILITY IN LITIGATION Page 3 In litigation, courtesy is customarily honored with opposing counsel, such as extensions to file pleadings or responses to other deadlines. In our experience, the reciprocal extension of such courtesies saves our clients time and money. By signing this letter, you will be confirming your approval of this practice in your case. HOW THIS AGREEMENT MAY BE TERMINATED You, of course, have the right to end our services at any time. If you do so, you will be responsible for the payment of fees and costs accrued but not yet paid, plus reasonable fees and costs in transferring the case to you or your new counsel. By the same token, we reserve the right to terminate our services to you upon written notice, order of the court, or in accordance with our attached memorandum. This could happen if you fail to pay our fees and costs as agreed, fail to cooperate with us in this matter, or if we determine we cannot continue to represent you for ethical or practical concerns. CLIENT FILE If you do not request the return of your file, we will retain your file for five years. After five years, we may have your file destroyed. If you would like your file maintained for more than five years or returned, you must make separate arrangements with us. THANK YOU We are pleased that you have selected Cota Cole LLP to represent you and appreciate the opportunity to assist in resolving this matter. If you have any questions at any time about our services or billings, please do not hesitate to call me. If this letter meets with your approval, please sign and date it, and return the original to us as soon as possible after the City Council considers approving it at its April 16, 2014, regular meeting. This letter will supersede the letter agreement between our firm and your City Attorney under which we have begun providing the legal services that we will continue to provide to the City of Ukiah under the terms of this letter agreement. We have enclosed a separate signed copy of this letter for your records. SEH/ce Enclosures AGREED AND ACCEPTED: By: Sa Sangia mo, City Manager {SEH/00030168. } Sincerely, Scott E. Huber COTA COLE LLP Dated: Letter Agreement Page 4 Cota Cole LLP and City of Ukiah Date: April 9, 2014 COTA COLE LLP - BILLING POLICIES Our two decades of experience has shown that the attorney-client relationship works best when there is mutual understanding about fees, expenses, billing, and payment terms. Therefore, this statement is intended to explain our billing policies and procedures. Clients are encouraged to discuss with us any questions they have about these policies and procedures. Clients may direct specific questions about a bill to the attorney with whom the client works. Any specific billing arrangements different from those set forth below will be confirmed in a separate written agreement between the client and the firm. Limited Liability Partnership Cota Cole LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership. Dennis M. Cota is the Managing Partner, Derek P. Cole, Scott E. Huber, David A. Prentice, Daniel S. Roberts, Jeremy B. Price, Margaret Long, and Carolyn J. Frank are Partners. William R. Galstan, Jason S. Epperson, Sean D. De Burgh, Jonathan E. Miller, Stephanie C. Ogren, and Shilpa M. Girimaji are attorneys employed by the firm. Fees for Professional Services Unless a flat fee is set forth in our engagement letter with a client, our fees for the legal work we will undertake will be based, in substantial part, on time spent by personnel in our office on that client's behalf. In special circumstances which will be discussed with the client and agreed upon in writing, fees will be based upon the novelty or difficulty of the matter or the time or other special limitations imposed by the client. Hourly rates are set to reflect the skill and experience of the attorney or other legal personnel rendering services on the client's behalf. Time is accrued on an incremental basis for such matters as telephone calls (minimum .3 hour) and letters (minimum .5 hour), and on an actual basis for all other work. Our rates for services are set forth in the retainer letter that accompanies these policies, but are customarily billed at rates from $250 to $400 per hour, and our administrative assistants, research assistants, paralegals and law clerks are billed at the rate of $150 per hour. These hourly rates are reviewed annually to accommodate rising firm costs and to reflect changes in attorney status as lawyers attain new levels of legal experience. Any increases resulting from such reviews will be instituted automatically and will apply to each affected client, after advance notice. Fees for Other Services, Costs and Expenses We attempt to serve all our clients with the most effective support systems available. Therefore, in addition to fees for professional legal services, we also charge separately for some other services and expenses to the extent of their use by individual clients. These charges include, but are not limited to, mileage at the current IRS approved rate per mile, extraordinary telephone and document delivery charges, copying charges, computerized research, court filing fees and other court -related expenditures including court reporter and transcription fees. No separate charge is made for secretarial or word processing services; those costs are included within the above hourly rates. {SEH/00030168. } Letter Agreement Cota Cole LLP and City of Ukiah Date: April 9, 2014 Page 5 We may need to advance costs and incur expenses on your behalf on an ongoing basis. These items are separate and apart from attorneys' fees and, as they are out-of-pocket charges, we need to have sufficient funds on hand from you to pay them when due. We will advise the client from time to time when we expect items of significant cost to be incurred, and it is required that the client send us advances to cover those costs before they are due. Advance Deposit Toward Fees and Costs Because new client matters involve both a substantial undertaking by our firm and the establishment of client credit with our accounting office, we require an advance payment from clients. The amount of this advance deposit is determined on a case-by-case basis discussed first with the client and is specified in our engagement letter. Upon receipt, the advance deposit will be deposited into the firm's client trust account. Our monthly billings will reflect such applications of the advance deposit to costs and not to attorneys' fees. At the end of engagement, we will apply any remaining balance first to costs and then to fees. We also reserve the right to require increases or renewals of these advanced deposits. By signing the initial engagement letter, each client is agreeing that the trust account balances may be withdrawn and applied to costs as they are incurred and to our billings, after presentation to the client. If we succeed in resolving your matter before the amounts deposited are used, any balance will be promptly refunded. Monthly Invoices and Payment Cota Cole LLP provides our clients with monthly invoices for legal services performed and expenses incurred. Invoices are due and payable upon receipt. Each monthly invoice reflects both professional and other fees for services rendered through the end of the prior month, as well as expenses incurred on the client's behalf that have been processed by the end of the prior month. Processing of some expenses is delayed until the next month and billed thereafter. Our fees are not contingent upon any aspect of the matter and are due upon receipt. All billings are due and payable within ten days of presentation unless the full amount is covered by the balance of an advance held in our trust account. If a bill is not paid within 30 days, a late charge of one and a half percent per month on the unpaid invoice shall be added to the balance owed, commencing with the next statement and continuing until paid. It is our policy to treat every question about a bill promptly and fairly. It is also our policy that if a client does not pay an invoice within 60 days of mailing, we assume the client is, for whatever reason, refusing to pay. We will then advise the client by letter that the client may pay the invoice within 14 days or the firm will take appropriate steps to withdraw as attorney of record. If the delay is caused by a problem in the invoice, we must rely upon the client to raise {SEH/00030168. } Letter Agreement Cota Cole LLP and City of Ukiah Date: April 9, 2014 Page 6 that with us during the 14 -day period. This same policy applies to fee arrangements which require the client to replenish fee deposits or make deposits for anticipated costs. From time to time clients have questions about the format of the bill or description of work performed. If you have any such questions, please ask them when you receive the bill so we may address them on a current basis. Changes in Fee Arrangements and Budgets It may be necessary under certain circumstances for a client to increase the size of required advances for fees after the commencement of our engagement and depending upon the scope of the work. For example, prior to a protracted trial or hearing, the firm may require a further advance payment to the firm's trust account sufficient to cover expected fees. Any such changes in fee arrangements will be discussed with the client and mutually agreed upon in writing. Because of the uncertainties involved, any estimates of anticipated fees that we provide at the request of a client for budgeting purposes, or otherwise, can only be an approximation of potential fees. {SEH/00030168. }