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New York judge throws out $1.25 billion legal fee awarded to lawyers in tobacco suit
Associated Press ^ | 9-27-02

Posted on 09/27/2002 7:02:05 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Edited on 04/13/2004 2:41:03 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

NEW YORK (AP) --

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: lawyers; pufflist; tobacco
This has to hurt the DNC's P&L.
1 posted on 09/27/2002 7:02:05 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Uh OH. Watch for the DNC trial lawyer contributions to be waaaaay down this year.
2 posted on 09/27/2002 7:06:08 AM PDT by finnman69
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Its a hard thing to do, but I say the attorneys are getting the shaft and the states have committed a breach of contract with them. The states brought on private attorneys, on a contingency basis, and agreed to pay them X%.

Well, when the state won big, they also owed big money to the attorneys and they should have held up their part of the contract and paid them in FULL.

3 posted on 09/27/2002 7:11:02 AM PDT by Phantom Lord
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To: Phantom Lord
That's fine. But, the defendant tobacco companies were only obligated to pay reasonable attorney fees. The arbitration panel exceeded it's jurisdiction when it ordered the payment of fees which exceeded any arguable notion of reasonablenesss.
4 posted on 09/27/2002 7:17:33 AM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: Phantom Lord
I have no sympathy for these or other attorneys involved in the tobacco suits. Here in Texas our former Attorney General demanded payment to him personally from lawyers who he appointed to collect money from tobacco companies. The lawyers did little or nothing (except pay commissions to the state AG) but are demanding billions in payment. The whole tobacco suit industry is based on fraud.
5 posted on 09/27/2002 7:27:35 AM PDT by FreePaul
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
I suggest that the Judge have his wife start the car in the morning.
6 posted on 09/27/2002 7:52:49 AM PDT by MarkT
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To: *puff_list; SheLion
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list
7 posted on 09/27/2002 8:21:26 AM PDT by Free the USA
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To: Free the USA; *puff_list; Just another Joe; Great Dane; Max McGarrity; Tumbleweed_Connection; ...
I'm trying to figure out words for this.
8 posted on 09/27/2002 8:33:25 AM PDT by SheLion
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To: Phantom Lord
Sorry, this really does not bother me.
9 posted on 09/27/2002 8:37:06 AM PDT by philetus
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To: philetus
Well, then don't be bothered in the future if you sign a contract and then the other party to the contract decides to not pay you what they agreed to pay you if they decide they had originally agreed to pay you "too much".
10 posted on 09/27/2002 9:07:47 AM PDT by Phantom Lord
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To: Phantom Lord
Re-Read post #4...
11 posted on 09/27/2002 9:14:48 AM PDT by jdontom
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To: Phantom Lord
This was actually a narrower decision. The arbitration agreement said the plaintiffs got fees only for the Ellis case; the arbitration panel awarded fees for other cases as well.
12 posted on 09/27/2002 9:17:38 AM PDT by Lurking Libertarian
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To: Phantom Lord
I'll bet lawyers are one of the worst groups at trying to get out of paying their bills.
13 posted on 09/27/2002 10:32:56 AM PDT by philetus
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To: Phantom Lord
Play ball with GodGov and get the bat shoved up your a$$.

And broken off.

14 posted on 09/27/2002 11:33:12 AM PDT by metesky
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
DNA of a lawyer
75% maximizing billing hours
20% ambulance chasing
4.5% procrastination
.50% guessswork
.50% looking it up on the law books
15 posted on 09/27/2002 12:08:39 PM PDT by Liz
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To: philetus
Not only do they have problems paying their bills, a lot of them will now have their BMW's repossessed after the court's ruling!
16 posted on 09/28/2002 3:45:04 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
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