In a stinging rebuke to the County of Mendocino, lawyers for Auditor Chamise Cubbison on Tuesday attacked a change of venue motion as a “waste of still more taxpayer dollars on an untimely, legally defective, and utterly frivolous” court filing.
“The County is attacking the assigned judge to the civil case, Ms. Cubbison’s criminal and civil counsel, and every member of the press, and apparently every sitting judge in Mendocino County,” declared Therese Cannata, a San Francisco attorney seeking damages on behalf of Cubbison.
Chamise Cubbison (Contributed)In the meantime, the costs of the high stakes standoff between outside county attorneys and the Cubbison legal team are mounting.
So far, the county has authorized payments of more than $250,000 to resist the Cubbison civil case and to pursue a failed bid to criminally prosecute her. Cubbison and her family have had to dig deep to hire private attorneys to defend her.
Cubbison on Tuesday estimated she has had to spend twice what the county has to defend herself, going without salary or benefits for 17 months while facing criminal prosecution.
Morin Jacob, the lead outside county attorney from San Francisco, now wants to further delay the contentious Cubbison civil case by moving it to Marin County, where she asserts the county can obtain a fairer hearing on the narrow legal questions she insists are at issue.
Jacob contends Cubbison’s counsel “and the local media have attempted to transform the straightforward statutory analysis of this writ proceeding into a sprawling conspiracy, involving gossip blogs and sensationalized claims.”
Jacob is managing partner of the San Francisco office of the statewide law firm of Libert Cassidy Whitmore, which to date has billed county taxpayers at least $200,000 to stall Cubbison’s legal efforts to win back salary, benefits, and personal damages after criminal accusations against her were dismissed earlier this year.
Jacob continues to decline repeated written requests to be interviewed about the pending Cubbison case, confining her remarks and allegations surrounding the high profile case to legal documents.
In her change of venue motion, Jacob argues, “It has become evident, through media coverage and statements made by this court that an impartial hearing cannot be conducted in this county due to local prejudice, bias, and media influence.”
Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman on Feb. 25 dismissed the felony criminal case against Cubbison, an action filed by District Attorney David Eyster in October 2023 and tried by an outside prosecutor in a move that cost the county more than $50,000.
At the conclusion of a preliminary hearing, Moorman tossed the Cubbison criminal case and castigated the “willful ignorance” of some key county witnesses. Moorman said evidence showed that Cubbison in fact was a “whistle blower” in a case that revolved around $68,000 in extra pay for the county’s former Payroll Manager Paula Kennedy.
Kennedy also was charged by DA Eyster with felony misappropriation of public funds, but they were dismissed against her too.
Moorman was also assigned to preside over the civil case, which is becoming increasingly acrimonious.
John Haschak, chair of the Board of Supervisors, sparked a new uproar with a letter written May 13 to Cubbison in which he defended county administrative actions since the elected auditor returned to office. Haschak concluded by asking Cubbison to let the board know “as soon as possible if you are unable or unwilling to fulfill the duties and statutory requirements of your position.”
Cubbison appeared before the board Tuesday in response and repeated that she needs the ability to freely communicate with Sarah Pierce, the assistant county executive officer appointed to act as county auditor for 17 months before the criminal case was dismissed.
Cubbison praised the work of Pierce in general but said direct talks between them are needed to understand the complex financial issues at hand. Pierce insisted Tuesday it was her decision to restrict communications with Cubbison to written questions and not engage in direct communication because of demands of her new role as the county’s purchasing agent.
The tense atmosphere surrounding the Cubbison civil case is underscored by declarations expressed in the change of venue motion filed by Jacob, the county’s outside attorney.
Jacob argues in her April 28 motion that since DA Eyster filed the criminal case, “local news outlets and blogs have spent countless hours speculating, sensationalizing, and promoting unsubstantiated claims against the County in the local media.”
In addition, Jacob criticizes Judge Moorman for “castigating the County in the criminal matter even though the County was not a party” to the felony prosecution, and in the companion civil litigation for not setting “boundaries considering the very narrow legal issue before it.”
Jacob is claiming an obscure state law gave the Board of Supervisors the authority to suspend Cubbison without pay and benefits after she was criminally charged by DA Eyster. The statute in question, however, only specifically cites a county Treasurer. Cubbison did not hold that title at the time of the alleged criminal offense.
Cannata, a noted attorney who has garnered a statewide reputation representing public management employees, ripped the county contentions in a lengthy statement provided this week.
“The county claims, for a civil action that has been pending since December 2023, that it cannot get a fair trial before the assigned judge or any other judge in its own county because of what happened in the criminal case against Ms. Cubbison,” wrote Cannata.
Cannata continued, “What happened was that the criminal case was dismissed, Ms. Cubbison was exonerated, and she resumed her duties as an elected official. Until this filing in the civil action, no one – including the special deputy assigned to the case or the sitting District Attorney – has ever hinted, much less stated, that there was any error or misconduct by the attorneys or judicial officers in the criminal proceeding.”
“Ms. Jacob and the Board of Supervisors sit alone on the island of imaginary facts and law in making this absurd and unwarranted claim,” declared Cannata.
Cannata said as to biased news coverage, “the County was quite content with the press coverage of Ms. Cubbison being arrested and prosecuted in a criminal case for 17 long and terrifying months.”
“After the press accurately reported on the dismissal of the criminal case and sworn deposition testimony obtained in the pending civil action that cast CEO Darcie Antle in a bad light, the county decided that local press coverage would somehow deprive the county of a fair hearing,” Cannata wrote.
Cannata warned that her firm is prepared to “protect and defend Ms. Cubbison’s rights in this civil action, and bring further actions if needed, to put a stop to any unlawful retaliation and interference with her job as an elected official.”
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