The Movement

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, commonly referred to as “DWP”, has been embroiled in scandals since its very inception. In fact, the Academy Award-winning film Chinatown profiles the corruption, greed, scandal of the DWP in the 1930s and the lengths they went to inflict pain on those who dared to expose their corrupt dealings.

Michael J. Libman, a well-regarded Los Angeles trial lawyer, found out for himself that nearly 100 years later, it’s business as usual at DWP. Mr. Libman discovered major issues with DWP over-billing customers (also known as “ratepayers”). Some customers received erroneous bills for as much as $50,000 just for water and power services. This overbilling hurt the working class and communities of color the hardest. Mr. Libman immediately went to work building a case.

In 2017, Mr. Libman and other attorneys prevailed and won a settlement on behalf of ratepayers for $67 Million.

As an immigrant from Soviet-controlled Ukraine, Mr. Libman is no stranger to these types of tactics but never thought he would see the day they would be used against law-abiding citizens and a lawyer in the United States.

Now, Mr. Libman has filed a lawsuit in federal court demanding justice. The class action part of the lawsuit asks for court orders prohibiting federal law enforcement agents from destroying, disabling or rendering inoperable security cameras installed on or in homes and business in the US in the course of execution of search warrants. Law enforcement must be transparent! Bodycams are not enough as they show only the perspective of the agent, when he or she want it recorded. Home and office cameras record things as they are happening from a neutral and objective perspective of the stationary camera lens. We must be able to hold federal agents accountable for violations of civil and constitutional rights that they commit in the name of the people and at their cost!

This case and this movement are not about Michael Libman.

What happened to Mr. Libman could just as easily happen to anyone challenges the system and tried to expose corruption. He is fighting back and building a coalition to stand up against this corrupt and unscrupulous power grab. He is starting the movement, but he needs your help if we want stop LA from turning into an oligarchy ruled by the few wired-in and corrupt persons interested in milking the public’s funds dry.