Detroit balks at $100K bill from Venable

Venable LLP wants the city of Detroit to pay what it owes for services rendered by former Detroit police monitor Sheryl Robinson Wood.

Detroit has responded, in effect, that Venable must be joking.

Wood served as an independent monitor for the troubled Detroit police department from 2003 to 2009, when it emerged that she had inappropriate meetings and discussions with disgraced Detroit ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Shortly after leaving her monitor post, Wood, who had been a partner in Venable’s Baltimore office, left that firm as well.

Venable is now asking Detroit to pay almost $100,000 in fees and expenses incurred by Wood and her colleagues.

“To allow Wood, Venable and its employees to receive money for either fees and expenses related to this monitorship knowing that it has been in a flawed state for many years would constitute a reward for improper conduct,” the city wrote in a court filing last week.

The city also said in the filing that it is considering litigation against Wood, Venable and two of Wood’s previous employers, Saul Ewing LLP and the Kroll Inc. risk management firm.

Detroit may sue to “recoup monies paid to these entities under the mistaken belief that the federally appointed Independent Monitor was acting in a manner consistent with the terms and conditions of the two Consent Judgments in this litigation,” City Attorney Allan M. Charlton wrote in a response to Venable’s motion for payment.

Venable’s bills to the city are going through the federal court because the work was done under the auspices of consent decrees overseen by the court.

The federal government, which is also a party to the case, indicated Monday in a court filing that it does not oppose Venable’s requested compensation.

Venable, Saul Ewing and Kroll all declined to comment Monday. A lawyer for Wood did not return a call for comment.

According to the bills submitted by Venable, the law firm charged Detroit $525 an hour for Wood’s services. It also charged $450 an hour for an associate’s time and $240 an hour for a third employee, presumably a paralegal.

Wood, under the auspices of her former employer Kroll, was hired to oversee consent decrees aimed at reforming use of force and prison treatment by the Detroit police.

When she left Kroll for Saul Ewing in 2007, she took the contract with her. She also kept working on the case after she moved from Saul Ewing to Venable in 2008.

Over six years, the city paid Wood, Kroll and the two law firms more than $10 million, according to the city’s filing.

But last summer, the federal judge overseeing the consent decree wrote in an order that he had learned through documents and a conversation with Wood that she “had engaged in conduct which was totally inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the two Consent Judgments in this litigation.”

Specifically, Wood had undisclosed meetings and messages with Kilpatrick about the case, the judge said at the time.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the city has recently asked the judge to provide it with text messages between Wood and Kilpatrick so they can build a lawsuit against Wood.

“Based on the [judge’s order] it is clear that had the Court been aware of Wood’s conduct in 2003, her monitorship along with that of her employer would have been terminated at that time,” Charlton wrote in last week’s filing. “Her failure to disclose the nature of her improper relationships and conduct in 2003 resulted in her and her employers, including Venable, receiving millions of dollars which they would not otherwise have received.”

Kilpatrick’s tenure as mayor was plagued by scandal. Most notoriously, he pleaded guilty to felony perjury charges after lying under oath about an extramarital affair with his chief of staff. He resigned, went to jail and forfeited his law license. The affair was brought to light after the Detroit Free Press fought for and won access to text messages between Kilpatrick and the chief of staff.

Wood now has her own practice in Washington, D.C., according to her listing on the Maryland Bar Client Protection Fund website.

Her husband, Wesley Wood, was a candidate for the House of Delegates from Maryland’s 44th District in Baltimore but withdrew his candidacy last week, according to State Board of Elections filings.