HARTFORD — A law firm that represented former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez in a corruption case is suing the city in an attempt to collect $1 million in legal fees.
The Santos & LaLima firm, led by attorney Hubert Santos, filed the lawsuit in Hartford Superior Court on Thursday.
Perez, a Democrat, served as mayor from 2001 until he resigned in 2010 amid corruption charges. He pleaded guilty in 2017, after his original convictions were overturned, to receiving a bribe and attempted larceny by extortion. He received a suspended prison term.
In 2019, he campaigned to be mayor again, but was soundly defeated in the Democratic Party primary by the current mayor, Luke Bronin.
The lawsuit says Perez’s contract with the law firm said the city would pay his legal fees. The firm’s lawyer, Hugh Keefe, told The Hartford Courant that Perez amassed $1 million in fees.
A city spokesman declined to comment.
