Professor Larson Comments on Trinity County Lawsuit for Northern California Record

Professor Carlton Larson commented for the Northern California Record on the issue of whether California government entities may legally hire outside counsel to manage litigation. 

The article concerns a suit in which Trinity County accuses Citibank, Discover, and First Premiere Bank of deceptively marketing credit card services. The banks have asked a federal judge to disqualify law firms hired by Trinity County to manage the suit on the basis of a state law that prohibits government entities from hiring private attorneys unless they have the expressed permission of the state Attorney General.

“Trinity County is a small county, and these types of cases require thousands of hours of legal work,” Larson said, “and a lot of up-front money to make the case go forward, so it’s quite hard if you don’t have outside counsel.”

“I suppose there’s some risk that the firms would stress large settlements over the public interest," Larson said. "On the other hand, if they get paid by the hour, the county just can’t afford that up-front cost. If that’s a requirement the suit’s just never going to happen.”

Carlton Larson's research interests focus on constitutional law and legal history, with a strong emphasis on the 18th century.