March 2014 Vol. 14, Issue 3
Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker 
News from the Oakland City Attorney's Office
In This Issue:
Annual Report Fiscal Year 2012-13
Neighborhood Law Corps Recovers Revenue for City of Oakland
City Attorney in the Community
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In our monthly newsletter, we provide updates on important legal issues and matters that impact Oakland residents and businesses.

 
This month: Our most recent Annual Report details initiatives, financial results and litigation trends for FY 2012-13; City Attorney in the community; and as always, highlights of recent court cases involving the City of Oakland.
  

I look forward to your comments, thoughts and questions about how we are conducting the City's business.

 

Very truly yours,

 

Barbara J. Parker

Oakland City Attorney
City Attorney's Annual Report 
Report details financial results, litigation trends and initiatives for Fiscal Year 2012-13

The City Attorney's Office plays an integral and often behind the scenes role in city government. Every year since the beginning of this century, we have published an Annual Report to show residents, businesses and taxpayers the services we provide on their behalf.

 

This report includes litigation trends, financial results and special initiatives for the Fiscal Year 2012-2013, and provides details on the work of every unit in the City Attorney's Office.

 

Some highlights for FY 2012-2013:

 

  • The City Attorney's Office brought in $1.86 million in revenue for our residents and taxpayers this year by pursuing affirmative litigation and other actions.
  • Our  Neighborhood Law Corps unit won final judgments in the city's legal battle against two hotels that were centers of prostitution and sexual exploitation of children in Oakland. The court shut down both hotels for a period of one year, the maximum amount of time allowed by state law. One is permanently out of business, and the other reopened under a new name and strict operating conditions to prevent any further incidents of prostitution.
  • We also drafted and co-sponsored an ordinance to promote transparency in elections by requiring electronic filing of campaign finance reports for Oakland political candidates, Political Action Committees and ballot measures.
  • And my Office continued to defend Oakland's medical cannabis distribution program by fighting the federal government's attempt to seize a building that houses one of the City's permitted medical cannabis dispensaries. Due to our lawsuit, the federal Court has prohibited forfeiture of the building while the Court of Appeal considers our appeal. 

The Annual Report also includes details about financial trends, including the high cost of the City's policy of cutting in-house attorneys and support staff, which requires our Office to retain much more expensive outside counsel services. The full report is posted on the City Attorney's website.

 

more info

 

2012-13 Annual Report

Neighborhood Law Corps Recovers Revenue for City of Oakland
$140,000 settlement resolves nine-year old lawsuit against warehouse owner, and the court awards City $610,000 in attorney's fees for work on landmark immigration fraud case 
 

In 2005, the City of Oakland sued a property owner who converted a Fruitvale area warehouse into living spaces without the required permits (People of California v. Palmer, Superior Court case no. RG05209407).

 

This month, the Neighborhood Law Corps unit in my office negotiated a $140,000 settlement with the owner, bringing an end to the case, and allowing the owner to sell the property at 1450 32nd Street to a developer who plans to renovate it. We recently received the check, and the money will go into the City's general fund to help maintain essential programs and services.

 

Also this month, the Neighborhood Law Corps secured an award of $610,693 for attorneys' fees in a case we prosecuted against a group of fraudulent immigration consultants who preyed on families seeking legal residency in the U.S. (City of Oakland v. American Legal Services, Superior Court case no. RG10496098).

 

In 2010, the Neighborhood Law Corps sued the owners of American Legal Services (ALS), which operated three fraudulent immigration consulting businesses in Oakland. Company employees and owners were scam artists who promised citizenship for their victims, charged exorbitant fees up front and then routinely acted against the interests of those who sought help, in some cases resulting in deportation proceedings.

 

In November, we won a record $15.1 million judgment against the companies. It is the largest award the City Attorney's Office has secured in litigation, and the largest judgment ever under California's Immigration Consultants Act. About $200,000 collected in a separate settlement with insurance company defendants provided full monetary restitution to victims for their losses.

 

This means the City is entitled to about $16 million. We are now seeking to recover as much as possible from the company owners' assets in the U.S. 

    

The Neighborhood Law Corps (NLC) is a unit in the City Attorney's Office that tackles crime, public nuisances and other problems in Oakland neighborhoods. By filing affirmative litigation, the NLC often brings in revenue for Oakland as we address some of the most pervasive problems in our community, including illegal dumping, prostitution and nuisance properties.

For more information, see the above Annual Report.

 

City Attorney in the Community

National Women's Political Caucus Holds 2014 Susan B. Anthony Woman of the Year Awards Ceremony

On March 16th, I joined hundreds of festive celebrants at the National Women's Political Caucus Alameda North Chapter (NWPC-AN) annual Susan B. Anthony Woman of the Year award ceremony in Oakland.

This year, the NWPC-AN honored Assemblymember Nancy Skinner as Elected Leader of the Year, and Prop. 8 plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Stier as Advocates of the Year. 

Kris and Sandy were plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging California's ban on same sex marriage. Like Susan B. Anthony, one of my personal "sheroes," they are courageous crusaders for basic human rights and dignity. They are most deserving of this recognition and gratitude from all Californians.

I am proud to be one of the sponsors of this year's awards ceremony, and honored to have been the 2013 recipient of this award. 

Photo from left to right: Peralta Community College Board President Abel Guillen, City Attorney Barbara Parker, Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, Peralta Community College Board Vice President Meredith Brown and Alameda City Councilmember Lena Tam. 




National Coalition of 100 Black Women's 16th Annual Madam C.J. Walker Awards Luncheon


Born two years after the abolition of slavery in America to formerly enslaved parents, Madam C.J. Walker transformed herself from an uneducated laundress and a farm laborer on a Louisiana plantation into one of the most successful women entrepreneurs of the 20th Century. Ms. Walker was the first African American female millionaire and a pioneer of the hair care and cosmetics industry. She also was a great philanthropist who used her resources to support causes such as the NAACP's anti-lynching movement.

 

For the last 16 years, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. Oakland/Bay Area Chapter has hosted a fundraiser/awards luncheon in her honor. Ms. Walker's great-great-granddaughter thanked the Coalition for celebrating her inspiring ancestor. 

 

At this year's March 14th event at the San Francisco Marriott Hotel, the keynote speaker was Judge Glenda Hatchett, an extraordinarily accomplished woman who has served as Chief Presiding Judge of the Fulton County, Georgia Juvenile Court and on the Board of Directors of Gap, Inc., and is nationally recognized  for her television show Judge Hatchett.   

 

This year's community recognition awards were given to Kim Winston, Senior Manager of Government Affairs at Starbucks, Gloria Lockett, Executive Director, Cal-PEP, Kimberly Bryant, Founder Black Girls Code, and Alecia DeCoudreaux, President of Mills College.

 

This was a heartwarming and awe inspiring event! 


Miss Representation Documentary and Panel Discussion at Holy Names High School
                        

On March 7, the Holy Names High School Alumnae Association hosted a screening and panel discussion of the critically acclaimed and insightful documentary film "Miss Representation." 

 

I was honored to serve on the panel to discuss this riveting and sobering film which "exposes how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America." It also addresses much, much more about the ongoing gender disparities and gender bias in our country, the hyper-sexualization, stereotyping, exploitation, demeaning images and objectification of women and girls. For African American and other girls of color, gender and racial bias and discrimination are a double whammy.

 

The film addresses the glaring inequality in positions of power -- for example, women make up 51% of the U.S. population, but only 17% of Congress -- and shows how mainstream media actively promote this inequality and undercut the ambitions of girls and women.

 

For more information, go to http://film.missrepresentation.org.

 

 

poster