A San Benito County Superior Court judge ruled Monday that
Matthew Sarsfield, a police officer and brother of District
Attorney John Sarsfield, must pay local attorney Arthur Cantu
attorney’s fees, covering his work in discovering the author of the
Sara M. Jones letter.
A San Benito County Superior Court judge ruled Monday that Matthew Sarsfield, a police officer and brother of District Attorney John Sarsfield, must pay local attorney Arthur Cantu attorney’s fees, covering his work in discovering the author of the Sara M. Jones letter.
Cantu has brought a suit against Matthew Sarsfield saying the letter, which was published in the Free Lance last November, defamed him and former district attorney Harry Damkar.
The award of 18 hours of legal fees was a part of the larger defamation suit against Matthew Sarsfield, a police sergeant with the Livermore Police Department.
Cantu is not satisfied just with attorney’s fees, but will seek additional monetary damages because he believes the letter damaged his professional reputation, he said.
“The attorney’s fees do not address the issue of damages or injury or the substance of the lawsuit,” he said.
Matthew Sarsfield did not return phone calls to his work and home Wednesday.
Matthew Sarsfield’s attorney, Daniel Pyne III of the San Jose-based law firm Hopkins & Carley, said he was very disappointed in the court’s ruling, but concedes that under the law the ruling was fair.
“I still remain confident that Mr. Sarsfield will prevail in the case when it comes to a conclusion,” Pyne said.
Among other things, the letter accused Cantu of playing the “race card” in a murder case. Cantu has had an ongoing feud with John Sarsfield since he lost the 2002 San Benito County District Attorney race to the prosecutor. John Sarsfield has denied any involvement in the writing of the letter.
Last month Pyne filed a motion to have the case thrown out because he alleged it was free speech. Judge Steven Sanders denied that motion and found it to be “frivolous and without merit,” Cantu said.
If an argument is found to be frivolous the defendant is subject to attorneys fees, Cantu said.
“It’s one thing to lose an argument, it’s another thing to have your argument found to be frivolous,” Cantu said. “That’s saying, attorney, what are you doing? You’re not even in the same ballpark.”
The total amount Matthew Sarsfield will be required to pay Cantu will be based on the $65 an hour fee Cantu bills the county, he said.
In his larger defamation case, he has subpoenaed both Matthew Sarsfield and John Sarsfield to appear for videotaped depositions in July, because he believes Matthew Sarsfield may have had input from an outside source in writing the letter, he said.
“I’m curious to see how much information was passed through the brothers,” Cantu said. “I don’t know, maybe none. I’m not pointing fingers right now.”
After depositions, Cantu will either take the case to trial or enter into a settlement conference, he said.
Cantu is suing Matthew Sarsfield for defamation of character because he believes the contents of the letter, which included the writer accusing Cantu of using the “race card” in his defense of Robert Orabuena, whom the District Attorney’s Office was prosecuting for murder at the time, affected his personal reputation and that of his law firm.
The letter writer said they were a former office assistant in the District Attorney’s Office under former district attorney Harry Damkar. Damkar is now a defense attorney. It stated that, “it was difficult to do our jobs because our former boss knew he would shortly be working with the opposing side,” and it thanked District Attorney John Sarsfield for taking control of the Office.
Cantu will interview John Sarsfield on July 20 and his brother on July 16.
