Attorney Fred Brewington has moved forth with a lawsuit against Nassau County, its attorney and 19-member legislature. In his suit, filed July 18 with New York State Supreme Court, Brewington is seeking $100,000 in damages, charging breach of contract, fraud, violation of fair labor practices and racial discrimination.

Brewington's lawsuit stems from monies he states the county owes him as a result of legal fees accrued earlier this year during the legislature's leadership battle; Democratic Legislators Roger Corbin and Lisanne Altmann retained Brewington after fellow Legislator Judith Jacobs filed a lawsuit against them and Republican Minority Leader Peter Schmitt in an effort to block a bipartisan coalition's attempts to oust her from the presiding officer seat.

Under its charter, all county employees are defendant and indemnified by so long as they are being sued for something within their county role. "The county charter requires and authorizes me to defend any county employee or official who is sued for their official actions. When you are a public employee you are often sued and it would be unfair if you were sued for your official actions and if you had to hire a private attorney every time," said County Attorney Lorna Goodman.

However, based on the particular lawsuit, Goodman said she advised the legislator's to obtain outside counsel. "I had advised them on certain aspects of this legislative fight and had a legal opinion about which side was right so I felt it would not be proper for me to represent," she said.

As a result, Brewington was granted a contract, not to exceed $50,000 in legal fees for defending Corbin and Altmann in Jacobs' suit and when the legal battle ended in mid-February, Brewington submitted the required county-approved vouchers for a total of $39,988. However, because his bill exceeds $25,000, the county attorney's office cannot issue payment without the legislature's vote and, said Brewington, the legislature has, over the past five months, failed to act on his bill.

"Mr. Brewington got a contract, he signed it and sent it back. We looked at his bills, audited them and put them through the payment process. It was put before the legislature on March 13 [but] the legislature did not act on it. Therefore, there is no way I, as county attorney, can pay Mr. Brewington until the legislature acts on the contract," said Goodman.

As a result, Brewington has filed the suit, alleging that the county breached their agreement and failed to compensate him for services they promised to pay for and that they intentionally and fraudulently induced him to perform professional legal services with the promise of fair compensation. The county's refusal to pay, alleges Brewington in the court documents, "is a willful attempt to defraud him of compensation rightfully owned." In not paying him, Brewington states that the county has also violated his rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

The attorney is also accusing the county of discrimination. According to his claim, failure to pay him for his involvement in the six-week long dispute is a "discriminatory and retaliatory pattern and practice based on plaintiff's race and color." "The process should not take this long. [The legislature] has, essentially, dragged their feet in an attempt to create hardships and teach either Mr. Corbin or myself or both of us some type of lesson, which is just outrageous since we have a written contract," Brewington said, adding that of the 11 or 12 attorneys hired over the course of the legal battle, all but him have been paid. "Every other person who was allowed to be hired in the way I was hired - defending a legislator and appearing in that case - was paid."

Jacobs, who, after the nearly two months of political lawsuits, party changes and appeals retained the legislature's top seat, said race hasn't played any part in Brewington not receiving payment. She told Anton Newspapers that her own attorney, Steven Schlesinger, has also not received payment as of press time; he is charging $63,000 in legal fees. According to Jacobs, the reason the other attorneys were paid by the county attorney already is because their bills were below $25,000 and did not require a legislative vote.

"This definitely has nothing to do with race," she said. "Fred [Brewington] and Steve [Schlesinger] were the only two attorney's with bills over $25,000 and we, as a legislature, have to pass on bills over $25,000. The legislature was waiting to rule on both bills at the same time. We wanted to put them both on the calendar for the same day."

According to Goodman, however, Schlesinger never signed or returned the contract sent to him so "there is no way we could get it on the legislative calendar." She added that since the county will only pay the legal fees of county defendants, Schlesinger is not entitled to payment for his entire $63,000 bill because some of his billable hours include time spent on lawsuits he initiated.

"When Judy Jacobs sued Roger Corbin, Lisanne Altmann and all the other members of the legislature, I had a duty to defend and pay for the defense of those people who had been sued. That's why Mr. Brewington is getting paid and other people got paid for defending [the other legislators]," said Goodman. "However, Mr. Schlesinger was not representing a defendant. He was representing Judy Jacobs who was the plaintiff. She brought the lawsuit. I did not authorize her to bring the lawsuit, therefore I am not authorized to pay for their legal fees."

She added that in one of the lawsuits, Toback vs. Schmitt, Schlesinger is entitled to payment because Jacobs was the defendant. "I am perfectly happy to pay his bill for her as a defendant," Goodman said.

Jacobs added, "It's a very technical type of thing where the county attorney's office has to look at all the bills and make sure any place where one of us might be interpreted as the plaintiff is removed. When the case was originally filed, I was the plaintiff [but] within three or four hours, Fred Brewington, on behalf of Lisanne [Altmann] and Roger [Corbin] filed their response and I became the defendant. It's very confusing and certainly has nothing to do with race."

As of press time, Brewington said nothing has changed since he filed the lawsuit earlier last week. "Right now, it's up to the county. I've sued them," he said, adding that the county will have a chance to answer before the proceedings begin.

The legislature was expected to meet July 24 at which time Jacobs said she was hopeful the issues surrounding Schlesinger's bill would be resolved. Although she said she would prefer to vote on both bills at the same time, Jacobs said it was possible that, if Schlesinger's was still tied up, Brewington's might be passed in the meantime. Due to Anton Newspapers production schedule, the outcome of Monday's legislative meeting will appear in a future issue.