1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: May 20, 2025
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Joseph H. McDougall, City Attorney
BY: Ashlee Clark, Senior Assistant City Attorney
SUBJECT: Approval of Addendum to Informed Consent and Waiver of Potential Conflict of Interest in Legal Representation by Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, and Authorization for City Attorney to Execute
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Attorney , or their designee, to sign the A ddendum (Attachment 1) to previously approved Conflicts of Interest Letter (Conflicts Letter) waiving any potential conflict with Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP (BWS) concurrently representing the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) in defense of tort litigation brought against Metro as well as property acquisition work in various Metro projects not located in the City of Burbank (City) while representing the City on a variety of unrelated matters.
BACKGROUND
BWS currently acts as special counsel to defend the City in the eminent domain lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court for the taking of City property interests in Victory Place and associated improvements (The People of the State of California (Caltrans) v. ZRP Burbank, LLC, et al., Case No. 22STCV37974 [“Eminent Domain Action”].)
On October 29, 2024, Council provided the City Attorney consent to sign the Conflicts Letter submitted by BWS related to its continued representation of the City in the Eminent Domain Action (Attachment 2).
CITY ATTORNEY’S
OFFICE
2 DISCUSSION
In addition to those matters disclosed and agreed upon by the City in the Conflicts Letter, following discussions with Metro, BWS has requested the City sign the Addendum which includes the following: 1) Additional consent to BWS’s continued representation of Metro in non-eminent domain matters, 2) Limits BWS counsel Alan Sozio’s involvement in negotiations in the current Eminent Domain Action , and 3) Expressly limits BWS’s representation of City or Metro in matters directly adverse to the other entity.
After reviewing the Addendum, it is the position of the City Attorney’s Office that the newly added terms will not compromise BWS’s representation of the City in connection with potential settlement negotiations in the Eminent Domain Action and will not compromise or be compromised by BWS’s representation of Metro on separate matters . This judgment is based on the fact that BWS’s previous and concurrent work for Metro and the City are unrelated and the parties’ positions in each are not adverse. Although there is always a potential for a conflict of interest under the State Bar rules, it is unlikely based upon the work described in the Conflicts Letter and the terms of the Addendum which prohibit BWS’s representation of either Metro or City in matters directly adverse to either entity.
For these reasons, the City Attorney’s O ffice believes that BWS’s continued representation of the City in settlement negotiations involving Metro related to the Eminent Domain Action will not compromise the firm’s representation of the City and the City may provide the informed written consent requested in the Addendum.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This activity has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment and, as such, is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 14 Cal. Code Regs § 15378.
FISCAL IMPACT
None.
CONCLUSION
Based on the Addendum and upon the advice of the City Attorney’s Office, staff recommends Council authorize the City Attorney , or their designee, to sign the Addendum to consent requested by BWS related to their concurrent representation of Metro.
3 ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Addendum to Conflicts of Interest Letter including Executed Conflict of Interest Letter dated October 14, 2024
Attachment 2 – Staff Report dated October 29, 2024