E. Ramapo school board overpaid lawyers $2M: Judge

The East Ramapo school district overpaid two corporate law firms by $2 million for defense of a single case over a two-year period, according to a state judge.

The district sued its insurance company, New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal, to recoup $2.2 million in legal fees associated with school board members' defense in a class-action civil rights lawsuit between 2012 and 2014. Last month, state Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria determined the insurance company was liable for "reasonable" legal costs associated with the case during that time.

A reasonable fee would have been $187,500 for 500 hours at an average hourly rate of $375, Bucaria said. Instead, the district paid fees totaling more than 10 times that amount to law firms Bingham McCutchen (now part of Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis and Bockius) and New York City-based Proskauer Rose.

Document: Read judge's decision in East Ramapo case

The average hourly rate those firms charged the district was not available.

"The District retained highly capable counsel of excellent reputation," Bucaria wrote in his decision. "However, the questions raised in the ... action were not particularly novel."

School board President Yehuda Weissmandl said the district plans to meet with Bucaria.

"The real story is that we went after this money from the insurance company and we won summary judgement," he said. "Now we have to work out the details of the amount the insurance is liable for."

New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal declined comment. A Morgan Lewis spokesman also declined comment, saying the firm does not discuss active matters. Proskauer Rose did not respond to requests for comment.

The district accumulated the legal expenses while battling a parent-driven federal civil rights suit. Parents, backed by the pro bono firm Advocates for Justice, alleged the district — led by the ultra Orthodox-dominated school board — misdirected public money to private religious schools to benefit the large ultra-Orthodox yeshiva community.

Private schools are entitled to a portion of the district budget for transportation, special education and textbooks. The case is ongoing.

East Ramapo officials have defended their choices of legal representation and decried what they call the bleeding of district funds by "frivolous" lawsuits filed by parents and community activists. Weissmandl said this lawsuit was unique because it individually named 11 defendants — including board members and schools Superintendent Joel Klein.

"Every single one of us requested counsel" but then agreed to hire one firm to represent most of the group to avoid costing the district "a bloody fortune," Weissmandl said. Former board member Nathan Rothschild was the only defendant represented by Proskauer Rose. Morgan Lewis represents the others.

Hank Greenberg, a state-appointed fiscal monitor, criticized the school board in a 2014 report for, among other things, excessive spending on legal services "in the face of fiscal crisis." Legal spending in the district rose from $383,071 in 2008-09 to $2.9 million last year, his report states.

Increased legal costs coincided with a deficit of more than $7 million the district endured in 2012-13. During the height of that budget crisis, the board slashed many advanced-placement classes, cut back on sports and kindergarten programs, and fired elementary music and art teachers.

Andrew Mandel, co-founder of activist group Strong East Ramapo, asked: "What is the recourse for taxpayers in this latest example of what Hank Greenberg has called 'reckless mismanagement' and 'absurd' legal spending?"

Twitter: @ASKSanders