Law Firms Sue Massachusetts for Tobacco Money

[Guest I'm That Damn Zzzzz]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/05/national...da6d270&ei=5062

Law Firms Sue Massachusetts for Tobacco Money

By KATIE ZEZIMA

 

Published: November 5, 2003

 

BOSTON, Nov. 4 — Two law firms that helped Massachusetts win $8.3 billion from a nationwide tobacco settlement faced their former employers in court on Tuesday, claiming they are owed an additional $1.3 billion in legal fees in the case.

 

The two firms, Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels of Boston and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein of San Francisco, have already been awarded $775 million over 25 years by a national arbitration panel, to be paid by the tobacco companies. But the firms say their 1995 contract with the state guarantees they receive 25 percent of the state's final settlement, based on the risk they took on. The firms sued to recoup the $1.3 billion they say was part of the deal.

 

 

"Is a deal a deal? Is a promise a promise? Is a contract a contract?" said R. Robert Popeo, who represents the law firms.

 

But Massachusetts said asking for the money violated rules of reasonableness governing lawyers' fees. Lawyers have a legal and ethical obligation to ensure that their fees are sensible when a contract is executed and when an agreement is over, Dean Richlin, the first assistant attorney general, said in opening statements in Suffolk Superior Court before Judge Allen van Gestel. The suit amounts to legal avarice, Mr. Richlin said.

 

"The Commonwealth says enough is enough," he said. "The Commonwealth says $775 million is reasonable pay. It is at the upper range of reasonableness under the law."

 

Mr. Richlin said the firms were seeking a fee that averaged out to $17,000 an hour. Were the firms to bill at their normal rate, he said, they would have received about $20 million. The money, he said, would come from funds "already available for public services" like health care and education. The Commonwealth was not required to pay by the hour, but by the end result.

 

The plaintiffs claim the case was precarious, as a tobacco company had never lost a lawsuit.

 

The case is the first of its kind to proceed to trial. Forty-six states were awarded $206 billion over 25 years in 1998 in a record deal in which the country's four largest cigarette makers paid states' health claims and limited advertising.

 

Sigh...

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

You mean LAWYERS are SUING because they didn't get their MONEY?

 

Next thing you know you'll tell me that John Kerry served in Vietnam (think we have our next phrase to mercilessly beat into the ground).

 

$17,000 per hour?!?! People better not say sh*t about A-Rod's contract anymore...

[Guest MikeSC]

You mean LAWYERS are SUING because they didn't get their MONEY?

 

Next thing you know you'll tell me that John Kerry served in Vietnam (think we have our next phrase to mercilessly beat into the ground).

 

$17,000 per hour?!?! People better not say sh*t about A-Rod's contract anymore...

You know, next thing you'll tell me is that Michael Moore is fat or that Bill O'Reilly is a blowhard.

 

And, yeah, $17,000 seems REAL absurd. And at the time of the suit, it hardly was a high-risk as juries are becoming progressively more idiotic.

-=Mike

...KERRY WAS IN VIETNAM? GET THE HECK OUTTA TOWN!

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

...KERRY WAS IN VIETNAM? GET THE HECK OUTTA TOWN!

I'm sure he did once he burned down a village...

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

and killed a baby.

 

It's ok, though. Big tobacco's got the pocketbook to deal with these wheezing bastards, of which I am one.

 

It's all part of my plan.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

John Kerry owns you.

 

The state could use the money more than the lawyers...of course I doubt much of that settlement will actually go to help my state.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

It'll go to fund The Big Dig.

 

Is that thing done yet?...

[Slayer 0]

$17,000 per hour?!?! People better not say sh*t about A-Rod's contract anymore...

OMG it iz so unfar he makes money to swing a bat!@!

 

Seriously, fuck the lawyers.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

It'll go to fund The Big Dig.

 

Is that thing done yet?...

People can drive through it if that's what you mean.

 

I get the feeling that like Caesars Palace, it will always be under construction. Get ready for The Big Dig's Amusement Fun-Zone, the first 100% underground theme park, opening July 2010!

[KingPK 0]

It'll go to fund The Big Dig.

 

Is that thing done yet?...

No worries, it'll be finished in 6 months.......make that a year........make that 2005......wait, 2006, but it's gonna take a few more hundred million dollars.....aw shit, one of the workers stubbed his toe on a beam, better make it 2009 now.

 

And John Kerry is a major tool.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

The Big Dig is done, has been for some time now.