District Attorney John Sarsfield is enacting a policy that will
allow a grand jury investigation of any potentially fraudulent
lawsuits against the city and county. Sarsfield hopes to begin the
program at the start of the new year.
Hollister – District Attorney John Sarsfield is enacting a policy that will allow a grand jury investigation of any potentially fraudulent lawsuits against the city and county. Sarsfield hopes to begin the program at the start of the new year.
The county is currently involved in numerous lawsuits. These include several high-profile cases such as a sexual harassment suit against County Council of Governments Executive Director Tom Quigley, another sexual harassment suit against Sarsfield, a corruption suit against County
Supervisor Richard Scagliotti, and a suit filed by Dist. 5 Supervisor-elect Jaime De La Cruz accusing the county of racial discrimination.
However, Sarsfield said the idea to review fraudulent cases by Grand Jury has nothing to do with any of the current suits the county is fighting.
“This isn’t something that is going to be applied retroactively or has anything to do with any of the cases going on right now,” he said.
The new policy will allow the DA’s office to review all claims against the city and county that seem as though they might be exaggerated or fraudulent, Sarsfield said.
He declined to say how much money fraudulent or exaggerated lawsuits have cost San Benito County over the years, but said it’s been “a significant amount of money and it’s quite a drain on local businesses and local government.”
Local lawyer Bill Marder said he is suspicious about the motives behind the DA’s new plan considering the numerous suits recently filed against the count. Marder is currently the plaintiff’s attorney in two sexual harassment lawsuits involving county officials, including Sarsfield, and the racial discrimination suit against the county.
“All citizens have a First Amendment right to complain about government wrong-doing. Anything that would interfere with that would be illegal,” Marder said. “But I think the main problem with this is that it would be subject to abuse and cronyism, and the DA would use his power to go after anyone he didn’t like.”
But Sarsfield insists he is putting together the policy to help the local governments, which he said can be vulnerable to fraudulent lawsuits.
“This is a lot like Proposition 64, which we voted on in the last election,” Sarsfield said. The proposition, which passed in November, limits an individual to suing a business only if they suffered physical or property losses. “That basically prohibits shake-downs of small businesses that are too tiny to fight back,” he said. “We are a little tiny county, a little tiny government. It’s not like we’re Orange County or LA County with millions and millions of dollars. We have to do what we can to preserve our taxpayers’ money.”
Marder said he didn’t believe the county is sued nearly as much as Sarsfield’s new policy might lead people to believe.
“It’s actually just the opposite. Most people are reluctant to sue the government because it has immunities that the private sector doesn’t. The government makes the rules, and they definitely tilt the field in their favor,” Marder said.
Sarsfield, though, says there are plenty of reasons to enact the new policy come Jan. 1.
“Suffice it to say, I’m concerned with what I’ve seen,” he said.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
