Ex-Counsel Sues Detroit Mayor, Says He Owes $79K Legal Bill
Updated: A former defense lawyer for beleagered Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who himself is an attorney, has sued over an allegedly unpaid legal bill of nearly $80,000.
“Attorney William Moffitt, a high-powered Alexandria, Va., lawyer, sued Kilpatrick in Wayne County Circuit Court on Wednesday, accusing the mayor of failing to pay a $79,059 legal bill for preparing Kilpatrick’s criminal defense against eventual criminal charges that he committed perjury in last year’s police whistle-blower trial,” reports the Detroit Free Press.
He apparently charged the mayor a billable hourly rate of $550, according to the newspaper.
A spokesman for the mayor’s current legal defense team, Marcus Reese, did not directly address the claimed debt, but described the lawsuit as an “unfortunate” public airing of “an administrative issue that is typically handled amongst attorneys.” He said the mayor will respond once he has all the relevant information.
Moffit contends that he was hired by Kilpatrick on an urgent basis, but dropped as he was about to file pleadings in the case, the Free Press reports. Then Kilpatrick allegedly had him send six boxes of research for the mayor’s new lawyers to use in his defense.
The newspaper says Moffit’s bill includes 239 hours of legal work by himself and his associates, accounting for $94,950. There are also charges for $4,109 in travel and other costs. Kilpatrick initially paid the firm a $20,000 retainer, and the claimed debt of $79,059 is the amount remaining after the $20,000 was deducted.
As discussed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts, Kilpatrick is in hot water over two police whistleblower cases that Detroit secretly settled for $8.4 million, reportedly prompted at least in part by an unsuccessful effort on the mayor’s part to prevent text messages that revealed an affair between himself and his then-chief of staff from becoming public. The city council, whose members say they weren’t told about the text message issue at the time they approved the costly settlement, are now up in arms about it and want him out of office.
Meanwhile, the perjury case was brought over a related issue–both Kilpatrick and his aide allegedly gave false testimony concerning the whistleblower cases, which reportedly conflicts with what is said in the text messages.
A local ABC affiliate reports tonight that the mayor–who has twice changed his legal counsel since dropping Kilpatrick–did so most recently in order to retain a team of local lawyers to hammer out a plea bargain, having given up hope of saving his job.
Choking on mounting legal bills, the mayor realized two weeks ago that his best option is to use an offer to voluntarily leave office as a bargaining chip, writes WXYZ.
Updated at 7:30 p.m., central time, to include WXYZ coverage.
