BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Gage County supervisors have signed a contract with a Lincoln law firm that offers bankruptcy services.

Supervisors took the action Wednesday as they continue to struggle with a $28.1 million lawsuit judgment awarded six people who were wrongfully convicted for the 1985 murder of a Beatrice woman. County officials have said the county doesn’t have the financial resources to pay the judgment.

Gage County asked the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday to delay execution of the judgment, saying it far exceeds the $18.4 million the county spent on governmental operations last year.

The county’s private attorney said in her motion that bankruptcy “would cause serious harm to the taxpayers of Gage County, as well as the county’s other creditors.”