Deal close in pay lawsuit

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: May 9, 2008 - Page: 1BA - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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LAFAYETTE — Firefighters, police and city marshals are within days of a possible settlement in a long-fought lawsuit with city-parish government, an attorney for the emergency workers said this week.

Some 600 police, firefighters and marshals are plaintiffs in a lawsuit over disputed back wages that has dragged on since the late 1990s and could cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

Fifteenth Judicial District Judge Edward Rubin ruled in 2003 that the city’s old pay plan for the workers violated state law, but a decision on what is owed has been in limbo pending unsuccessful appeals by the city and talks to settle the case out of court.

The city and the workers have been exchanging settlement offers in recent months, and the two sides came close Tuesday to reaching an agreement, said attorney Daniel Landry, one of the attorneys representing the emergency workers.

“We were really close to resolving this,” he said, predicting that a settlement might be announced early next week.

The last public settlement offer from the emergency workers was $8.2 million — a counter to an offer from the city of $6.8 million.

Landry would not disclose the settlement figure under discussion but said it is a compromise.

“It’s more than what the city offered and less than what we offered,” he said.

Landry said the main sticking point now is how long city-parish government would have to pay the full settlement.

Rubin had initially said he would enter a monetary judgment against city-parish government on Wednesday if no settlement had been reached by then, but the judge delayed the move because of the progress in negotiations, Landry said.

A court-appointed accountant set the total amount owed at $12.4 million, but the emergency workers have disputed that as too low and say the figure is closer to $19 million.

Any settlement would probably be for far less, but the emergency workers would have a better chance of receiving the money quickly.

City-parish officials have already said that any figures in the range of $12 million to $19 million would be a huge strain on the budget, and it is unclear whether the emergency workers could force city-parish government to pay if no settlement is reached.