Portsmouth CA Billed Over $140,000 (So Far) by Private Law Firm in FOIA Case
Crenshaw, Ware & Martin, P.L.C. has billed Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney Stephanie Morales' office over $140,000 so far to defend against a single FOIA lawsuit.
In December of 2023, I submitted a FOIA request to Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales seeking records concerning the high-profile prosecution of a Portsmouth Police officer.
As Peter Dujardin reported in The Daily Press last year:
By the time Stanfield asked for records into the McClean case in December, the officer already had been acquitted of one of the manslaughter counts. He was acquitted in the second three months ago.
Also at the time, Stanfield wanted records about Robert Huntington, a former Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s investigator who helped look into McClean — and whom McClean sued in May, alleging malicious prosecution.
On Dec. 19, Stanfield sent a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request to the Portsmouth Police Department and Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
He asked for “any and all documents and communications mentioning or concerning any closed investigations” into McClean. And he sought “any and all documents and communications mentioning or concerning any complaints or disciplinary actions against Mr. Robert Huntington” between 2014-23.
Ultimately, the Commonwealth Attorney’s office claimed they were not the custodian of the records I sought, despite the Portsmouth Police Department claiming the Commonwealth’s Attorney was, in fact, the custodian.
So, as Dujardin reported, I decided to sue:
But Stanfield didn’t take that lying down. Though he typically takes his cases to court without a lawyer, he hired attorney Verbena M. Askew to represent him in this case, explaining that “Portsmouth can be tricky.”
Askew sued Morales on March 20, asserting the prosecutor violated the state’s open records law by failing to properly cite an exemption within the five working days. Morales, meantime, hired two outside lawyers to represent her.
In May — five months after Stanfield’s initial request — the commonwealth’s attorney’s office’s lawyers said the records about Huntington are exempt from mandatory disclosure under protections for personnel records and administrative records. Separately, the city said it had 70 pages of records into Huntington on file, but also withheld them based on the same provisions.
When I told Dujardin “Portsmouth can be tricky,” I had no clue how tricky it could be.
After I filed my lawsuit in March of 2024, Morales’ office submitted a filing in the case - but neither my lawyer nor I was sent a copy. The filing asked Portsmouth Circuit Court Chief Judge Johnny Morrison to assign counsel to represent Morales in the case. Here’s the filing:
A little over a week later, Chief Judge Morrison entered an order appointing Darius K. Davenport, Esq. (Managing Partner of Crenshaw, Ware & Martin) as counsel for Morales. This was the first my lawyer and I heard about private counsel entering the case.
Three weeks later, Chief Judge Morrison recused himself, and retired Judge Randall Smith was assigned to hear the case. Since then, for approximately nine months, there’s been a handful of filings from each side and a single hearing (in which Morales’ demurrer was overruled).
Not much activity - and a lot of waiting.
FOIA Request for Invoices
I started to wonder, as we creep towards what should be a simple, brief trial: how much is the private law firm charging Morales’ office to defend her? Understanding that it’s ultimately the taxpayers who will foot the bill.
So I sent a FOIA request a couple of weeks ago for “any bills/invoices sent to the Commonwealth's Attorney's office concerning my FOIA case in Portsmouth Circuit Court, Stanfield v. Morales (CL24-1176), including any bills/invoices from Crenshaw, Ware & Martin.”
Today I received 28 pages of billing statements that show how much Crenshaw, Ware & Martin is charging Morales’ office to represent her in my FOIA case. Although the cost to process this FOIA request apparently exceeded $200, Morales’ office has graciously decided not to charge me.
You can download the FOIA response letter here:
You can download the 28-page document here:
Over $140,000 Billed So Far
Let’s examine the Crenshaw, Ware & Martin billing statements released today from the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office below.
Statement 1 (pgs. 1-5) details what amounts to $30,750.00 of work and six employees logging hours. Statement 2 (pgs. 6-11) details what amounts to $36,782.07 in additional work and nine employees logging hours. Statement 3 (pgs. 12-15) details what amounts to $24,404.00 in additional work and six employees logging hours. Statement 4 (pgs. 16-18) details what amounts to $15,895.74 in additional work and four employees logging hours.
Statement 4 also notes a payment to the firm of $30,750.00 on November 6, 2024.
Statement 5 (pgs. 19-21) details what amounts to $13,980.97 in additional work and four employees logging hours. Statement 6 (pgs. 22-23) details what amounts to $2,946.00 in additional work and two employees logging hours. Statement 7 (pgs. 24-25) details what amounts to $6,544.00 in additional work and four employees logging hours. Statement 8 (pgs. 26-27) details what amounts to $6,136.00 in additional work and three employees logging hours.
And Statement 9 (pg. 28) details what amounts to $3,174.00 in additional work and one employee logging hours.
That’s $140,612.78 in total charges - $30,750.00 of which has been paid - leaving a balance of a cool $109,862.78 due as of last month. And we haven’t even entered the trial phase yet!
For perspective: in two of the four FOIA lawsuits I’ve brought pro se in Richmond Circuit Court, I faced off against Richmond Deputy City Attorney and head of the Civil Litigation Division Wirt Marks representing the defendants. Mr. Marks almost certainly has an entire portfolio of cases and concerns he deals with on top of FOIA litigation like my own. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch online salary database for Richmond in 2024, Mr. Marks’ annual salary is $167,342.44. That same database shows Richmond Senior Assistant City Attorney Sharon Carr’s annual salary as $141,074.18.
For the cost of outsourcing my simple FOIA case to a private law firm, the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office could’ve hired another full-time attorney at a very competitive salary to handle any number of concerns, including but not limited to FOIA litigation, for an entire year. And who knows? By the end of this case, Crenshaw, Ware & Martin may end up having billed Morales’ office over a quarter million dollars.
So while we don’t yet know which side will prevail in court, we already know that - no matter what - the private law firm wins, and the Portsmouth taxpayers lose.
