Legal battles ARE getting costly

As it was reported here last week, the legal battles being mounted against the city of Greensboro are getting rather costly.

So how much have YOU shelled out in legal fees thus far?

Yesterday's News & Record:

• In the last 21/2 fiscal years, the city has paid more than $507,000 in private attorney fees to deal with legal issues and personnel complaints surrounding Wray's department.
• In 2008, the city paid $113,000 to resolve two lawsuits involving the police department, and the City Council considered paying $750,000 to settle police officer discrimination complaints; the offer was later withdrawn.
• Since 2005, the city has racked up nearly $415,000 in bills for three different consultants to study, investigate and explain how to fix what has ailed the police department.

Ouch. That's my empty wallet pinching me.

More:

Three years after Wray left, Greensboro is knee-deep in discrimination complaints, criminal trials and civil lawsuits.

"It's really a shame," City Manager Mitchell Johnson said Friday. "It's been an incredibly unfortunate situation and could have been dealt with more effectively a long time ago if people had made the right decisions."

The three most recent lawsuits were filed within the past 10 days - Jan. 2 claims filed separately by Wray and Brady, followed by a discrimination lawsuit filed Friday by 39 black police officers.

None of the lawsuits came as a surprise to the city. Greensboro has already spent more than $135,000 for private attorneys to handle issues with Wray and Brady and $45,600 for private attorneys to deal with the black officers' discrimination complaints.

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It really is a shame, Mitch. It's a shame that part of this was your-doing.

E.C. :)