Politics & Government

Beverly Hills Hires New Lawyers in Metro Subway Case

The Purple Line Extension project would extend the Metro Purple Line from Wilshire/Western westward for nine miles.

Two new attorneys will represent the City of Beverly Hills as it fights to stop a proposed subway from being routed under Beverly Hills High School as part of the Purple Line Extension.

Philip Karmel of Bryan Cave LLP and Professor Daniel P. Selmi of Loyola Law School will work on cases against the Federal Transit Authority and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, respectively.

"Both Professor Selmi and Mr. Karmel bring tremendous assets to our litigation team," said Beverly Hills City Attorney Larry Wiener in a statement. "Both have significant experience and insight into the land use and environmental issues that the city is raising in its litigation to relocate the proposed subway tunnel from beneath Beverly Hills High School."

The city hired the new attorneys after the lead lawyer at Gilchrist & Rutter, one of two firms on the city's litigation team, left the firm and "his new firm would not honor the terms of the city’s agreement with Gilchrist & Rutter," according to a news release. Selmi and Karmel will now "fill the role played by Gilchrist & Rutter."

The subway project would extend the Metro Purple Line from Wilshire/Western westward for nine miles and include seven new stations, with destinations including Beverly Hills, according to Metro.

Construction of the first section of the subway extension will begin in 2014.

—Patch editor Matthew Sanderson contributed to this report.


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