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Cochise County hires outside counsel and votes to pursue $130,000 settlement recovery from Daniel LaChance
Summary
At a Sept. 30 special meeting, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved retaining outside counsel Timothy Lasota and authorized initiation of a lawsuit to recover a $130,000 settlement tied to case CV2023-00363 after a public commenter raised concerns about timing and counsel choice.
The Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Sept. 30 to retain attorney Timothy Lasota to review a potential lawsuit and to initiate legal action seeking recovery of a $130,000 settlement from Daniel LaChance in case CV2023-00363.
The actions were approved by a 3-0 vote. Supervisor Gomez moved both measures and Supervisor Crosby seconded; the board chair called the aye votes that carried each motion.
A resident, Allison Morse, spoke during the public-comment period and urged the board not to retain Lasota or to pursue the lawsuit. Morse said she had reviewed prior meeting recordings and said Lasota had previously represented clients and organizations that she described as promoting unproven election-fraud claims. "He's been legal counsel for [Mark] Finchem and others related to baseless unproven election fraud," Morse said, and she expressed concern about litigation occurring shortly before an election and about use of county funds for the matter. She also cited what she described as prior legal fees paid related to the dispute, saying, "so far we've spent I believe $84,000 on legal fees for Craig Morgan..., almost $25,000 to Mr. Lasota... and $130,000 to Mr. LaChance..."
Board members and the chair responded that the retention is intended to address a conflict of interest within the county attorney's office and to secure independent review. The chair said the board had not yet decided whether to file suit; instead, Lasota and Deputy County Attorney Correa will brief the board in a future special meeting and executive session on whether there are grounds to proceed and on the likelihood of success. "The decision whether or not to file an actual lawsuit will be done after we see what Mr. Lasota and Mr. Correa brief us on," the chair said.
The motions before the board were: to approve retention of Timothy Lasota to represent the Board of Supervisors for purposes of recovering the settlement amount in LaChance v. Cochise County (CV2023-00363), and to approve initiation of a lawsuit against Daniel LaChance to recover the $130,000 settlement amount from that case. Both motions passed 3-0.
The board noted the lawsuit review and any decision to file will follow a briefing by outside and in-house counsel. The meeting adjourned with the board noting its next scheduled session will be a flood control district work session to receive an update on flood control issues.
