This week California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse released a study that examined how much money cities and counties throughout California have spent on legal costs in two recent fiscal years. The Los Angeles Daily News picked up on the story and took it one step further and solicited comments from area leaders including Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and LA County Risk Manager Rocky Armfield.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich’s highlighted how his office is working to reduce legal costs and protect taxpayer dollars: Here are Trutanich’s comments:

“City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, who recently marked his first 100 days in office, said he's taken a number of steps to reduce costs. This includes personally reviewing each case, bringing more cases in-house and asking outside law firms to discount their fees by 15 percent. As we move forward, we are looking at reducing those figures through management, by being involved in every step of the decision-making process, reviewing cases and expenses, being involved in the mediation and arbitration processes and taking more cases to trial rather than settling

In an effort to stop frivolous lawsuits, Trutanich's office is changing its tactics. One way you can stop the frivolous lawsuits is to make it costly for those who choose to sue the city.  If you bring a frivolous lawsuit against the city - thinking we were going to settle - we are going to attach fees and costs. We are no longer just showing up in court with a shield. We are coming to court with a sword and a shield, because it's about protecting taxpayer dollars."