Jacksonville continues settlement negotiations in redistricting case, appeals costs rise

Jacksonville may be nearing settlement with the civil rights groups that successfully sued the city for racially gerrymandering its 2022 voting district map. The potential settlement would come almost a year after the initial lawsuit was filed and over $161,000 in legal fees.

The city asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to pause its ongoing appeal Tuesday morning, a day after City Council met with the Office of General Counsel in a private shade meeting to discuss the litigation.

The city of Jacksonville, Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan, and the civil rights groups and individuals who filed the lawsuit are “nearing a finalized settlement agreement that would end this case,” the motion reads.

“The parties are currently finalizing settlement terms, but additional time is needed for the Office of General Counsel to discuss the settlement terms with the City Council, and, of course, the Council needs additional time to convene and vote on the settlement agreement,” the motion says.

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The settlement could mean that the voting map the city uses through 2030 would be drawn in a negotiated agreement with the civil rights groups that sued the city, instead of the city doing it by itself as it has historically done.

The amount the city pays to outside legal assistance will also be dependent on the outcome of the settlement – the former cap of $150,000 that could be spent on outside counsel doubled in February, according to the law firm's amended February engagement letter.

A federal judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, which include individuals and groups like the Jacksonville branch of the NAACP, Florida Rising and the Jacksonville Northside Coalition, saying the map City Council approved in March 2022 unconstitutionally packed Black voters into Districts 7, 8, 9 and 10.

The city then approved a new map drawn by a hired outside expert, and the plaintiffs in the case drew three alternatives. The judge chose a plaintiff-submitted map labeled P3 – it was the map least favored by the plaintiffs of their three options but the most similar to the November council-drawn map.

If the city were to continue its appeal, the case is set to go to court in March 2024.

City Council member Matt Carlucci has publicly stated his support for the P3 map. After the private meeting with OGC Monday, he said he wanted to know what options the city had for settlement.

“The City Council advised the Office of General Counsel to explore ways to resolve the lawsuit,” Carlucci said. “The City Council will have the final say on any settlement that may be presented.”

How much has the city spent on the case?

Jacksonville’s two-pronged approach involved hiring outside counsel to assist in appealing the decision to toss its first map, while also hiring an expert to draw a new map entirely. The Times-Union previously reported the combined total of the outside work to be above $150,000 together, but new invoices show the attorney fees alone total over $161,000.

The Virginia-based law firm Holtzman Vogel worked on two separate appeal requests for the city. The first asked the court to stay the federal judge’s ruling that the city’s original March 2022 map was unconstitutional. The second requested that the city use its own remedial map, instead of the court chosen – and implemented in the most recent election – P3 map.

The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied both requests.

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Individual attorney and associate fees were $550 per hour in 2022 but raised to $565 per hour in 2023, as reflected in the January invoice. Paralegal fees also rose from $150 per hour to $165 per hour.

Working from Oct. 14 to Jan. 30, the firm charged the city $161,882 for 317.07 hours of work payable. The invoice for work in November had the most amount of hours payable at 126.7 hours.

This does not include the amount paid to map drawing expert Douglas Johnson who charged $46,340.81 in fees and expenses last year.

The cap for attorney fees was previously $150,000. OGC Jason Teal told the Times-Union the cap was raised to $300,000, meaning Holtzman Vogel must stop work before hitting the cap in order for the city to decide whether to raise it again.

“Because this is an ongoing engagement relating to currently pending litigation, the OGC cannot estimate the total fees and costs payable to the firm under this Engagement,” Teal said Feb. 24 in an amendment to the firm’s initial engagement letter, which stipulated the original cap.

Teal did not comment on if the city still retained the firm or a projected timeline of settlement negotiations or if the city still retained Holtzman Vogel services.

Northside Coalition President Ben Frazer called the legal expenses a waste of taxpayer money by city leaders.

"The City Council simply did not listen to the voice of the people or to good old-fashioned common sense," Frazier said. "They were guided instead by huge egos and an ugly monster called pride."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville City Council moves to negotiate redistricting case