Washington County spent $75,185 on legal fees defending ballot-curing lawsuit
Washington County paid more than $75,000 in legal expenses to its special counsel hired to defend the county’s Board of Elections in the recent lawsuit filed by seven voters concerned about the lack of ballot curing options available for mail-in voting.
David Berardinelli of the Pittsburgh-based law firm DeForest, Koscelnik and Berardinelli submitted his invoice Aug. 9, billing the county $96,520 for more than 203 hours of work, along with an additional $2,795 in fees for two deposition transcripts.
According to the invoice, Berardinelli reduced his initial agreed upon rate of $475 per hour by 25% “as a matter of professional courtesy and in recognition of the fact that the Board is part of a government entity,” bringing the bill down to $72,390. With the addition of the depositions transcript fees, the final invoice to the county came to $75,185.
The county processed the invoice Tuesday, nearly a month after Berardinelli submitted it for payment. It’s not known if the $5,000 retainer paid to Berardinelli in early July is included in his invoice.
https://www.heraldstandard.com/editors_pick/2024/sep/05/washington-county-spent-75185-on-legal-fees-defending-ballot-curing-lawsuit/