Photo by W. Marc Bernsau.
Russ Caswell's lawyers claim their legal bills have totaled more than $500,000 in the quest to prevent the government from taking his motel.
If U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz doesn’t appeal a court decision that prevents her office from seizing control of a Tewksbury motel, she won’t just have lost out on a chance to obtain a property worth more than $1 million.
She could also end up with some pretty hefty legal bills to pay.
The lawyers for Russ Caswell, whose family owns and runs the Motel Caswell in Tewksbury, say they plan to file a request in Boston federal court to seek reimbursement for their time and related legal costs in fighting on behalf of Caswell to keep his motel.
Federal prosecutors say they had planned on seizing the Motel Caswell through a civil forfeiture process to curtail the number of drug crimes in the area. Law enforcement officials cited 15 incidents over a similar number of years, according U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein’s Jan. 24 ruling against Ortiz. Caswell sees it differently: He says prosecutors are trying to take his property because it’s worth more than $1 million, and unencumbered with a mortgage.
With Dein’s decision, it’s entirely possible that the feds won’t just miss out on a property worth more than $1 million. Prosecutors may also have to pony up more than $500,000 to the two law firms that represented Caswell.
That’s a preliminary, rough figure from Darpana Sheth, one of the lawyers who works with the Institute for Justice, the Arlington, Va.-based law firm that took up Caswell’s cause in 2011. Before that, the Caswells’ regular law firm, Schlossberg LLC of Braintree, was handling the case, which dates back an initial forfeiture proceeding in 2009.
Sheth says she doesn’t have an accurate total yet. The libertarian-leaning Institute for Justice agreed to defend Caswell on a pro bono basis, regardless of whether he won or lost, she says. But the IJ had planned to seek reimbursement from the federal government if Caswell prevailed.
Michael O’Neil, a lawyer at Schlossberg, says his firm has a longtime relationship with the Caswells. He figures his firm has rung up well over $100,000 in legal bills with the case. (Caswell has already paid the law firm for some of its work, O'Neil says, so presumably he could end up getting reimbursed as well.)
Schlossberg and the Institute for Justice filed a request this week with the federal court to temporarily shelve proceedings concerning the attorneys’ fees and costs until Ortiz’s office decides whether to appeal. They are relying on a 2000 federal forfeiture law that allows “substantially prevailing” parties to be awarded reasonable attorneys fees and other legal costs. Dein’s ruling pretty much sided with Caswell in almost every aspect, so it would seem that Caswell qualifies as a “substantially prevailing” party in this case.
So now they wait for Ortiz to make her move. She has until March 25 (60 days after Dein’s decision) to decide whether to appeal. If no appeal is filed, Caswell’s lawyers say they would bill the government for their costs by April 9.