City solicitor reports 28 active lawsuits; law department pursues delinquent tax collections
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Summary
The city solicitor told council the law department is defending 28 active suits (about half involving law enforcement liability), reported dismissals and settlements this year, and described an aggressive effort to pursue delinquent business/mercantile taxes and contract recoveries.
The city solicitor (unnamed in the meeting) briefed council on the law department's workload and litigation activity, saying the city is defending 28 active lawsuits and that about 10 of the new suits this year involved the police department or law-enforcement liability.
"We presently have 28 active lawsuits that we're defending against," the solicitor said, and added that the department posted nine dismissals and nine settlements in 2025 to date. The solicitor said the city's law-enforcement-liability insurer has set reserves at a "nominal value," reflecting the carrier's view that many claims lack merit; the solicitor added the department continues to defend the suits vigorously.
On proactive work, the solicitor said the department recovered more than $200,000 in a contract-enforcement matter and described an aggressive collections posture on delinquent business privilege and mercantile taxes: a part-time tax solicitor has filed about 200 suits over two years and the administration budgets $190,000 for delinquent mercantile-tax recoveries in 2026, with staff expecting 25–50 additional filings before year end.
The solicitor also outlined legal work on blight and nuisance properties, saying the department obtained authority to remove 25 blighted properties and secured injunctions in cases such as a dog-hoarding matter. He said the law department authored roughly 185 pieces of legislation this year and handled more than 75 contracts in partnership with project management.
Budgetary changes described for the law office were procedural: staff plan to move court-award and professional-service funds into the law department's budget line to reflect actual usage; the solicitor said no new staff are proposed but a modest reallocation will appear in departmental accounting.
Council members pressed on the projection that delinquent mercantile collections would jump to $190,000 in 2026 after much smaller actuals in prior years; the solicitor said collection efforts are ongoing and that cases can take more than a year to resolve.
The solicitor closed by noting the department will continue to deploy litigation and training to mitigate risk and that additional technology (AI legal research) is being considered for future efficiency.