Forks Declines to Play Legal Chicken

If you ended up slapped with a lawsuit, wouldn’t you want the best legal brains on your side when the case came before the judge?  Whether it’s a personal injury case or a frivolous lawsuit against a Township, who your lawyer is really matters.

One of the first jobs must take very seriously is protecting community taxpayers from losing costly lawsuits.  Should potential or actual litigation threaten to cost taxpayers dearly, a responsible Supervisor will act with good judgment to assure that the most experienced, knowledgeable counsel is retained to protect the Township.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that hiring competent, highly qualified counsel is a prudent investment.  In the long run quality can protect zoning and level the courtroom playing field, especially when developer lawsuits can drag out for years. 

But, going for cheaper legal representation when Forks Township is already embroiled in both state and federal developer-initiated litigations, was the risky choice advocated by newly elected Supervisor Dan Martyak.  With less than an hour on the job, Martyak alone was willing to gamble on a penny-wise, pound-foolish notion that switching to cheaper legal representation won’t cost Forks taxpayers a bundle down the line.  Right.

Fortunately, more rational heads prevailed at the January 3, 2012 Reorganization meeting when all other Supervisors were unwilling to play a game of legal chicken with the Township’s pending cases.  They voted 4-1 against Mr. Martyak’s Russian roulette idea.

For putting Forks we salute Supervisors Chuss, Egolf, Billings and O’Neill for sound judgment in retaining Solicitor Karl Kline.