Posted on 07/02/2002 3:31:14 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Trial lawyers like those who negotiated the tobacco settlement are frequent targets of Republicans, who contend the lawyers file frivolous lawsuits that result in large awards and legal fees, which raise business and consumer costs. The lawyers say they use the legal system to seek redress for people who have been hurt by negligence or faulty products. Many trial lawyers contribute to Democratic candidates.
AUSTIN -- More than four years after Texas secured a $17.3 billion settlement in a lawsuit against the tobacco industry, the political aftermath -- which still lingers like the smell of stale smoke -- could cloud this year's U.S. Senate race.
A controversy over legal fees may have contributed to former Attorney General Dan Morales' failure to stage a comeback in this past spring's Democratic gubernatorial primary. And now a related flap may affect the Senate campaign of his successor, Republican John Cornyn.
Cornyn spent much of his 1998 campaign for attorney general and his first two years in office trying to overturn $3.3 billion in legal fees awarded to five trial lawyers hired by Morales for the tobacco case. The effort against the fees, although unsuccessful, earned Cornyn much applause -- and financial support -- from Texas business interests.
The issue had mostly faded from the headlines before Cornyn launched his Senate campaign, but now it threatens to erupt anew on at least two fronts:
· The five trial lawyers -- Walter Umphrey and Wayne Reaud of Beaumont, John O'Quinn and John Eddie Williams Jr. of Houston, and Harold Nix of Daingerfield -- or their firms have contributed more than $2 million so far in this election cycle to Democratic candidates for federal office or Democratic causes. Much of that money probably will end up being used to try to derail Cornyn's Senate bid.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group in Washington that tracks campaign funds in federal races, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, Cornyn's Democratic opponent, has directly received only $7,000 of the total because of restrictions on direct contributions to federal candidates.
But through June 3, the lawyers and their firms had given another $450,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, which will help fund selected senatorial candidates throughout the country, and $12,500 to the Texas Democratic Party, which could assist Kirk's campaign through get-out-the-vote and other grass-roots efforts.
· Cornyn, meanwhile, has quietly renewed an effort to haul the lawyers into court and question them about allegations -- which they have repeatedly denied -- that there was something illegal or unethical about the way Morales hired them.
State District Judge John Donovan of Houston has scheduled a July 30 hearing on Cornyn's petition to depose the five, but at least three of the lawyers have filed motions that could delay the proceedings.
Cornyn insists he is just trying to complete some unfinished business that was delayed two years ago when the lawyers challenged his motion in federal court.
Cornyn initially petitioned Donovan in April 2000 to authorize his questioning of the five lawyers. He said he was investigating whether the attorneys had breached their duty to the state by putting their own interests above the taxpayers'.
The attorney general -- who often attacked their fees as "excessive," even though they were paid by tobacco companies -- accused the outside lawyers of not returning suit-related documents to his office, and he questioned some of their expenses.
Cornyn also wants to put them under oath about allegations that Morales improperly solicited $1 million apiece from several lawyers he considered hiring for the anti-tobacco suit. The money purportedly was for a fund to help Morales defend himself against political or public relations attacks from cigarette companies.
The allegation initially was raised by Houston trial lawyer Joe Jamail, who was interviewed by Morales but wasn't hired.
Morales and the five lawyers have repeatedly denied the accusation. They said the only money that Morales required the outside attorneys to advance was $2 million apiece to cover litigation expenses.
Federal prosecutors are believed to have investigated the allegations without finding any wrongdoing. But Jeff Boyd, a deputy attorney general who will represent Cornyn in the Houston hearing, said the attorney general wants to complete his own investigation.
"All we want to do is take their depositions and ask them to tell the truth," Boyd said.
Democratic political consultant George Shipley of Austin, a spokesman for the five lawyers, would only say, "These matters are before the courts, and that's where the attorneys expect them to be resolved."
But some Democrats privately question whether Cornyn is trying to revive a dead issue in order to drum up more publicity and support from business groups for his Senate campaign.
Trial lawyers like those who negotiated the tobacco settlement are frequent targets of Republicans, who contend the lawyers file frivolous lawsuits that result in large awards and legal fees, which raise business and consumer costs. The lawyers say they use the legal system to seek redress for people who have been hurt by negligence or faulty products. Many trial lawyers contribute to Democratic candidates.
After Cornyn initially filed his petition to question the five main anti-tobacco lawyers in state court two years ago, the lawyers had the motion transferred to federal court in Texarkana.
U.S. District Judge David Folsom, who presided over the tobacco case, refused to let Cornyn question the lawyers. The attorney general appealed and won favorable decisions from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, the latest occurring earlier this year.
Even though a state judge has now set a hearing in Houston, at least three of the lawyers are still fighting the attorney general. Umphrey and Reaud have filed motions to get the hearing transferred to Jefferson County, their home county, and Nix is trying to get a hearing in Camp County, where he lives.
Bullsh*t. Texans are NOT happy about having billions of dollars of their money going to lawyers. Texans are also not stupid.
This is just another stupid attempt by the Chronicle to try to inject some controversy into a Senate race that the Dems have no hope of winning.
Bump!
Exactly! I was thumbing through a stray copy of the Commiecal that I saw tonight. I saw this front page headline and read to see that all the dirt reflects poorly on the Dem's candidate for guv!
Cornyn isn't haunted, he's vigilant in seeing that some well connected lawyers don't get to keep billions in unearned booty. These same lawyers are using this money to see that Cornyn is defeated and that the man who helped them get this $$$ gets his political reward (election).
The article mentions how this money came from the tobacco companies so the lawyers didn't really "hurt" anybody. I contend that the state would have received more money had the lawyer's take been smaller.
These are among the top 10 donors in the state. Payola. Bigtime.
The headline definitely needs a rewrite. Any suggestions?
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