County to Pay Legal Fees Involved in Healthcare Deal

An agreement to settle the court battle over plans to close Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center and reduce beds at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center will cost the county more than $2.2 million in legal fees, officials said Wednesday.

The county has agreed to pay for the lawyers representing the public interest groups that filed lawsuits to block the plans, said Leela Kapur, a senior assistant county counsel. The county also must pay an outside law firm -- Christensen, Miller, Fink -- for defense work, though the amount remains unknown.

The two suits were filed after county supervisors approved a proposal in 2003 to shut Rancho and cut 100 beds from County-USC to save about $75 million a year. A federal judge halted that plan, ruling that it would illegally deprive poor and disabled residents of vital medical services.

The settlement, approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, keeps Rancho open for at least three years and scales back planned cuts at County-USC and will save the county about $61 million over four years. Under the deal, the county will pay plaintiffs’ legal costs of $451,000 in one suit and $1.75 million in the other, Kapur said.