Humboldt supervisors authorize county counsel to defend in multiple lawsuits after closed session

EUREKA, Calif. — After a several‑hour closed session on Jan. 27, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors said it had unanimously authorized the county counsel's office to defend the county in four pending lawsuits and reported no other reportable action on personnel items that were discussed in private.

The board announced during its public report that "there was no reportable action taken with regard to items G‑2 and G‑3," and that on items G‑4 through G‑7 "the board voted unanimously to authorize the Humboldt County Counsel's office to defend the County of Humboldt" in the cases listed in the staff report. Those cases include Delman Smith et al. v. City of Eureka et al., Allen Donald McCloskey v. Stacy Eads (Shasta County), Faustino Cayetano v. County of Santa Barbara et al., and Jackie Clem v. County of Humboldt et al., with individual case numbers noted in the agenda packet.

The closed‑session agenda had cited the Brown Act and specifically government code sections 54954.5, 54957 and 54956.9(d)(1) as the authority for the private deliberations, which covered public‑employee performance evaluations, labor negotiations and the listed litigation.

County Counsel provided the report out; no board member identified additional details in open session. The board recessed back into closed session later in the day for one remaining item and ultimately adjourned the meeting without further public action.

The authorization to defend does not disclose any discussion of litigation strategy; the board's statement reflects only the formal outcome announced at the meeting.