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Home My WebLink AboutCC Res 1960 1971-03-15 'I I I '; AGENDA ITEM # viII ~ ". .. " .- RESOLUTION NO. 19'D A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEA L BEA CH AUTHORIZING THE LAW FIRM OF RUTAN & TUCKER TO INTERVENE ON BEHALF OF THE CITY IN PENDING FEDERAL COURT ACTIONS AGAINST ROCKWELL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, AND OTHERS, FOR RECOVERY OF DAMAGES FOR AN ALLEGED CONSPIRACY FIXING PRICES ON WATER METERS IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL ANTI-TRUST LAWS The City Council of the City of Seal Beach does resolve as follows: Section I. The law firm of Rutan & Tucker of Santa Ana, California is hereby retained by the City of Seal Beach to intervene in behalf of the City in a pending anti-trust action in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, elltitled Murin Municipal Water District, et aI, J=?I.aintiffs vs. Rockwell Manufacturing Co., et aI, Defendant, being action No. 50284 in said Court for the recovery of damages under Federal Anti-Trust laws for an alleged conspiracy to fix prices of water meters and water meter parts. Section 2. City shall pay the law firm of Rutan & Tucker an attorney fee wInch shall be wholly contingent upon the event of recovery in said action. If no recovery is made, no fee shall be paid said firm except City's pro rata share of out of pocket expenses with all other clients of said firm involved in the same litigation. The contingent attorney fee shall be twenty-five percent upon the first $l 00,000.00 of recovery, or any part thereof, and, twenty percent. of all reqovery !lbov,e $~,OO. 000. 00. In the event of a tz:ial, or a settlement after the first.,trial begins, said fee will be twenty-five percent of all amounts recovered. The eity will pay its pro rata share (based on the proportion of City's estimated purchases of water meters and parts in proportion to, all estimated purchases of all clients of Rutan & Tucker) of out of pocket expenses, which proportional share of expenses may be billed to City upon a regular basis. Section 3. It is understood that Rutan & Tucker may have clients which may eijher presently or from time to time in the future may have interest adverse to the City of Seal Beach and that said firm, therefore, has the right to represent such clients in matters not,connect,ed or related to this water meter anti-trust matter; said representation may include litigation, so long as said representation involves unrelated matters, in which no information or advantage is gained by virtue of this anti-trust representation. PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Seal Beac.1} at a regular meeting thereof held on the IF day of ....IP~~~ ,1971, by the following vote: '~ / AYES: Councilmen ~.I.1""", ';t,~-f. ,- . ~/.de.".. I __~hJ: Councilmen .ik;,-"AJ- ABSENT: Councilmen ~# VACANCY: Councilmen '^ .0;. " A TTEST: ~ / ~~ftfr '-U/~ --- ..--- --- -.:---, ...~ ,,' .-...~ ---- .:{'~~ ,. .. .... =z=t...~"'...:=t;"" . -; ~~ ;.1 - ~.':~~ ... - .~ . _0 -;?i- ~~~'- ,~ ..... '\.-T .... - 'I ..' ~....~<(~: . . ' - - - '1 ~~~ (J .. ~:~Se"A~~ :5:-\'\."...~...,-..lj'd!," ~~1"r;"e,;''']jJ'...,Y.''.\ {~{i~.'~~\l \~"i:;:::'-;;~t~>}~N \^;;;;';~~;~'ict;: \.y~~~;r~~::-"~~:," rflJiii,~"~>" ._=",,-,,,-~ . . Resolution Number ImiiI1 mil. 0 l!III 0 ImIlUiiOO liIiIIilDi1 1DIill!.~~UI!I IIlIlla _.gg1 Refer Reply to: 1412 Mailing Address: 711 Electric Avenue . P.O, Box 275 Seal Beach. California 90740 March 9, 1971 I Robert E. Meyer, City Manager City Hall 811 Eighth Street Seal Beach, California 90740 Subject: Water Meter Litigation Dear Mr. Meyer: After the City Council authorized intervention in the pending San Francisco Federal Court Water Meter Anti-Trust case through the Santa Ana law firm of Rutan 8. Tucker, I have, at the request of that firm. prepared, and enclose herewith a form of proposed Resolution which should be presented to the City Council at their March 15th meeting to authorize this representation and intervention. I also enclose for your information and reference a March 3 letter I have from Rutan 8. Tucker outlining the terms of their proposed representation. I If the Council does adopt this Resolution, I would like to have two certified copies to forward to Rutan &: Tucker, as there is a time factor involved here as they must intervene on our behalf in the case in San Francisco before April 1, Thank you very much, JB/cs Enclosures "" May<1/' - MORTON A, BAUM U ~ CouncilmembeTs - LLOYD E. GUMMERE . CONWAY J. FUHRMAN . THOMAS R, HOGARD . HAROLD K, HOLDEN - ". . A. ~ RUT"N ""1."'0"0 W DAHL NOII"'AN H 5111EOD:lAARO H RoDClER HOWELL JA8ilE:511.TUCKER lIAAVIN F. SHALLENBE:RGE:R ..........5" IIIOORI!: H!!:"II!:RT Vi' Wjl,.l..IIli:R ROIlERT L "ISU:'" ROIlERT C TODD NICK E voceA !'"RITZ R 5T""OLINO HARRY J KE...rO/ll ~UL FREDE.RIC MARX HO~ER L M~CORMtCI\.JR E:DMUND II C....SIi:Y HOljllARO f HA"RISON ......",ES E E:RICKSON JOHN M VINCENT WILLIAM R HIEL 1 1 Resolution Number RUTAN & TUCKER " RICHIloFlD A CURNUTT LEO,..ARD A HA"'PEL JOHN II HURLBUT,"R MICHAEL Vi' '''''''ELL COLLEEN M CL,o,IFU:; MILVORD W DAI-iL,JR THOMAS" BURIU: J. NICHOlAS COUMlI:R lR AOODLFO MOJlTLlANO RONALD P ARIlINGTON STUART T WALDRIP DAVID W ME'l'ERS C "ICHARD LEMON RICH""D P 81Ms C C"Arli Co<<lRLSON JOHN J MURPHY WU..LI"'JIl II RAUTHm THEODORE I W"'LLACE .III ATTORNEYS AT LAW THE BANK OF CALIFORNIA BUll.DING 401 CIVIC CENTER CRIVE WEST POST OFFICE BOX 1975 SAN,.A ANA.CA"'If'O~N.h\ 92.702. 17141 835-2200 OF COU"ISEL w. K LINDSAY EVERETT A. HART .JAMES B TUCKER,91'1 101588 -18!10 March 3, 1971 LOS ANGELES OFF"ICE !I!lO SOUTH FLOWER STREE.T, SUITE 633 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90017 TELEPHONE 1213) B20-0482 LAGUNA. HILLS OFFICE. 23521 PASEO OE VALENCIA, SUITE 300 LAGUNIrI HILLS, CA.LIF'ORNIA S1I2853 TELE:PHONE 17'....1 B3S-2200 IN REPL.Y PL.E..SE REFER TO OOOl-243 B-65 Mr. Jim Benson, City Attorney 2ll - 8th Street Seal Beach, California Re: Water Meter Antitrust Case - City of Seal Beach Dear Mr. Benson: Pursuant to your telephone conversation with my secre- tary on yesterday's date, wherein you advised that the City of Seal Beach desires to intervene in the above matter, I am forwarding to you the following information. We will need a resolution authorizing us to file suit against Rockwell Manufacturing Company, Neptune Meter Company, Badger Meter Manufacturing Company, Hersey- Sparling Meter Company, and Worthington Corporation, for an alleged conspiracy in violation of the antitrust laws. We would like such a resolution to include the following: "It is understood that Rutan & Tucker may have clients which either presently or from time to time in the future may have interests adverse to the City of Seal Beach and that said firm, therefore, has the right to represent such clients ~ matters not connected ox related to this water meter antitrust matter; said representation may include litigation, so long as said representation involves unrelated matters in which no information or advantage is ~ained by virtue of this antitrust ;tepresentation." Such an understanding is standard practice in the repre- sentation of municipalities as special counsel. A form of resolution is enclosed. - , , - Resolution Number ; " . Rutan & Tucker March 3, 1971 2. 1 Our proposed fee in this matter would be, in the event of settlement, 25 percent of the amount recovered on the first $lOO,OOO.OO recovered on behalf of all of our clients, and 20 percent on all recovery above this amount. In the event of a trial, or a settlement after the first trial begins, our fee would be 25 percent of the amount recovered. Of course, if there were no recovery, no fee would be owed. Each client is to pay his prorata share of our out-of-pocket expenses, which will be billed on a regular basis. I would appreciate your forwarding the City's resolution as soon as possible after your March l5 meeting so that we can begin to prepare the necessary papers. The dead- line for ~iling a complaint in intervention in this matter is April l. If you have any questions concerning the above, please call. Very truly yours, RUTAN & TUCKER ~t?-~ Richard A. Curnutt <( RAC: dhh Encl. I