September 2, 2004

San Jose City Attorney’s Office assists in investigation of controversial
technology program for new City Hall

Litigates difficult cases for city and redevelopment agency

Editor’s Note: The following is the eighth article in an ongoing series about the city’s departments and appointed officials. Next week: San Jose City Auditor Gerald A. Silva.

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

Rick Doyle enters his office in the so-called health building next to City Hall in a crisp navy blue suit and tie having just conducted meetings to discuss the police shooting case of Richard Sharp vs. City of San Jose.

Sharp’s family has brought a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against three officers, the San Jose Police Department and the city of San Jose. Now, it’s up to a jury at the U.S. District courthouse in downtown San Jose to decide whether police acted excessively or in self-defense.

He quickly gives background on the case with an ease of words only a seasoned lawyer can articulate.

The shooting occurred outside the Sharp’s Hercus Court home on Dec. 22, 2001, responding to a 911 plea for help from Sharp’s wife because her husband had attacked her with a hammer. When Sharp walked out of the house with a hammer and a knife in hand, officers opened fire. Several bullets hit Sharp killing him.

San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle stands by the sign outside his office. Photo by Sheila Sanchez

Doyle’s senior deputy city attorneys and attorneys for the three officers involved, Rea Cramer, Robert McAlvey and Aneez Raghavan, contend the shooting was justified as an enraged Sharp came at officers in a threatening manner.

“It’s a horrible situation for everybody. We believe the police acted property, ” says the 49-year-old Doyle, convincingly.

He’s now watching the dust settle over the recent scandal related to Cisco System’s substantial influence over the $8 million technology plan for San Jose’s new City Hall. A city audit conducted by Doyle and San Jose City Auditor Gerald Silva concluded that Cisco had “significant and pervasive” influence over the plan. Although Cisco employees initially denied their involvement, Cisco lawyers corroborated that they acted improperly. The audit sharply criticized city officials’ reliance on Cisco to develop and help bid the plan. The city’s top two technology officials resigned last month and the San Jose City Council has voted to rebid the plan in October, which may cause expensive delays to the $388 million project. Also, senior city official Jose Obregon, the city’s director of general services, was demoted.

While San Jose City Manager Dale Borgsdorf has declined to be more explicit about the failings of staff members because he has to protect the privacy of 16 employees who were interviewed during the investigation, many have been reprimanded.

This is Doyle’s world of high stress, but he doesn’t allow the mental and physical pressures of his job to affect the way he manages his legal office, a task he seems to do dexterously while handling the city’s and redevelopment agency’s sometimes complicated and messy legal matters. He also legally represents Borgsdorf and Silva.

Doyle litigates any claim by or against the city, including cases involving contracts, bodily injury and property damage, code enforcement, eminent domain, land use litigation, employer-employee matters and writs.

He also provides legal representation in criminal proceedings involving violations of the city’s municipal code and in civil service disciplinary hearings and other adversary hearings before city appeals boards and state and federal agencies and boards.

Doyle has been representing the city since January of 2000 when San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and the 10-member City Council appointed him city attorney. Prior to his appointment, he worked for five years as the city attorney for Concord.

His first contact with the city, however, was when he was hired as a deputy city attorney in 1989, a job he performed until 1995, under former City Attorney Joan Gallo. Before entering the field of municipal law, he worked in private practice for 10 years in San Francisco specializing in municipal finance, which sparked his interest in city government.

At the time, the city was trying to build the San Jose Arena and it needed a finance attorney. Doyle reversed professional gears leaving his private law practice to enter his public law calling. “I enjoy it. I like the work. It’s far more interesting. I like being part of an organization like San Jose. It’s a great city. In spite of the recent problems, it’s a great place to work with great people.”

Doyle manages about 100 employees, including 50 lawyers and support staff ranging from secretaries to paralegals with an operating budget of $11 million, which mostly pays salaries, expert legal advise and depositions.

He also provides legal services, other than litigation, to the council, city departments, officers, boards and commissions, including formal and informal legal opinions and advice, and preparation of ordinances and resolutions, permits, contracts and other legal documents.

“We’re an important part of trying to put the deals together for the city. We get a lot of satisfaction in knowing that we’re accomplishing something for the good of the citizens,” Doyle says.

Doyle grew up in San Francisco, but his father was a San Jose native. He received his bachelor of arts degree in history from Chico State University and his law degree from the University of the Pacific at the McGeorge School of Law in 1979.

On the walls of his spacious office hang a sketch of the late 35th United States President John F. Kennedy, which belonged to his mother; a picture of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. (Bobby) Kennedy, a picture of famous baseball legend Willie Howard Mays while playing for the New York Giants, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and a 1724 British contract document used by solicitors or attorneys scribed in long hand to define rights of landowners.

The items reflect what is most dear to Doyle—history, the law and baseball.

“The one thing you see in the law,” says Doyle, “is the good that it can do for people. In the end we’re a nation of laws. People need a common set of rules. Nobody is above the law. Everyone has the opportunity to do what they want in this country, but it needs to be a fair and level playing field,” he says.

For more information on the city attorney’s office, 151 W. Mission St., San Jose, Calif., 95110, or call (408) 277-4454.