A series of lawsuits tied to the actions of a disgraced former supervisor at the Orange County District Attorney’s Office already has the county on the hook for $16 million, and current and former prosecutors who recently won multimillion-dollar jury verdicts say a decision by county leaders to pursue appeals is only prolonging the fight.
Read more Marc Anthony, Chayanne and more to play benefit concert for Venezuela and Colombia earthquake relief
The combined cost of jury awards and settlements related to allegations against Gary Logalbo — a former senior manager at the District Attorney’s Office who was once a close friend of District Attorney Todd Spitzer — is up to about $12 million.
And county officials confirmed this week that they have paid an outside legal firm an additional $4.1 million over four years to represent and defend the county against the Logalbo-related lawsuits.
The two women who won jury trials in their lawsuits against the county are angered that the county has opted to appeal.
“It is inexplicable to me why the county has chosen time and time again to take the most cumbersome and expensive path,” said Bethel Cope-Vega, who was awarded $3.5 million by a jury for the sexual harassment she was subjected to by Logalbo. “We never asked for any of this. And now this appeal will drag this out for years more.”
“Full court press”
Cope-Vega remains a high-level prosecutor with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Chosen as the “Outstanding Prosecutor of the Year” by the California District Attorney’s Association in 2024, Cope-Vega in recent years has handled the county’s most shocking child-abuse related prosecutions.
Cope-Vega during the trial described repeated sexual harassment by Logalbo, including late night calls in which he asked what she was wearing and told her she was naked in his dreams.
Cope-Vega, in a recent interview, said her intention — along with the others who filed lawsuits connected to Logalbo — was never to start a public fight or “burn the place down.” Instead, she said, “We wanted there to be changes, for women to not be subjected to this.” In response, she accused the county of sending the message to other employees facing harassment that “If you speak up, they will go full court press…
“This battle has probably been harder for me emotionally than any of the harassment I sustained,” Cope-Vega added. “It has been an incredibly burdensome journey, but it had to be fought.”
Tracy Miller — a former gang prosecutor who rose to the upper echelons of the OC district attorney’s office to become the highest ranking woman in the department before she described being forced out for trying to protect Logalbo’s victims — was awarded $3 million by a jury, but is also frustrated that the county is appealing an additional $1.5 million a judge awarded her for attorneys fees.
“There were women who didn’t come forward and it sends a message to all county employees,” Miller said in an interview this week. “The county is just playing legal games, stalling.”
Miller last week received the “Everyday Hero” award from the Orange County Women Lawyers Association. The organization recognized her for “standing up to protect her female colleagues from workplace harassment and retaliation. Miller said she was accepting the award on behalf of all the women who spoke out against Logalbo.
“If I was afraid and I was harassed and it was impossible for me to do my job based on how I was treated, I can’t imagine what it felt like for young women who were just starting their careers, just starting to learn to be a lawyer,” Miller said.
Miller’s attorney, Bijan Darvish, noted that interest is still accruing on the jury award as the appeal plays out. He estimated the cost as 7% annually, or “roughly $884 in taxpayer money burned every single day.”
Read more LA federal judge denies Trump administration’s bid to dismiss immigration raids lawsuit
County spokeswoman Molly Nichelson confirmed the nature of the appeals. Asked about the cost of outside counsel in the cases, Nichelson indicated that the county from June 2022 through June 2026 paid the Sheppard law firm $4.1 million in legal defense costs for the Logalbo-related cases.
The Board of Supervisors in 2021 rejected a $6 million settlement negotiated by county risk assessment attorneys that would have resolved the cases with six-figure payouts for the accusers, well below what the cost of the lawsuits has ended up being. The supervisors opted instead to hire the Sheppard law firm to represent the county in the cases.
Final cost still to be determined
Decades ago, Logalbo was the best man at OC DA Todd Spitzer’s wedding, though Spitzer said they had grown apart before he took over the office and moved Logalbo into a top management role. In late 2020, the sexual harassment charges against Logalbo surfaced. Logalbo retired after being placed on leave and died in 2021.
Spitzer has repeatedly denied protecting Logalbo or targeting the women who reported the sexual harassment.
After the jury verdicts in the lawsuits brought by Miller and Cope-Vega, county leaders approved a series of settlements tied to the remaining lawsuits related to Logalbo.
Deputy District Attorney Mallory Miller and former prosecutor Shabnum Azizi both agreed to $925,000 settlements. Prosecutors Clarisse Magtoto and Amy Tallakson agreed to settle for $995,000 each. Former Orange County Public Defender Mohammad Abuershaid — who alleged that Logalbo referred to him as a “terrorist” while discussing his cases — agreed to a $100,000 settlement.
Orange County District Attorney’s Office Spokeswoman Kimberly Edds said decisions on how to handle the litigation rested with the Orange County Board of Supervisors. The District Attorney’s Office was not consulted on whether to appeal, Edds added.
“The Orange County District Attorney’s Office has always supported the victims of sexual harassment and their right to sue and receive compensation for their damages,” Edds said. “The OCDA has, and continues to, advocate for all its employees to be free of discrimination and harassment.”
The exact, final cost to taxpayers for the Logalbo-related lawsuits is still unclear.
Between the settlements, jury awards and outside legal costs, the current cost of the Logalbo-related cases to the county is about $16 million.
If successful, the appeals could potentially lead to lower costs tied to the jury trial awards.
But, if not successful, those appeals would still lead to higher costs for the law firm representing the county. And a judge still has to rule on how much Cope-Vega will be awarded in attorney fees.
Read more Russell Westbrook retires from the NBA with a farewell video narrated by Michael B. Jordan