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Mass:Taxachusetts Robs Lawyers Who Helped It Rob the Tobacco Industry
NewsMax.com ^ | 11-04-03

Posted on 11/04/2003 8:13:47 PM PST by SheLion

BOSTON – A lawyer for the two law firms that helped Massachusetts win $8.3 billion as part of the 1998 tobacco settlement accused the state Tuesday of breaking promises and penalizing the firms for being too successful.

"Is a deal a deal? Is a promise a promise? Is a contract a contract?" Robert Popeo said in opening statements for a lawsuit over how much the firms should receive for their work.

The state responded by arguing that the $2 billion total the firms are seeking violates the rule of reasonableness that governs attorneys' fees.

"Every 90 days for the next 20 years, they will receive over $8 million. The Commonwealth feels this is a substantial and reasonable fee," said assistant Attorney General Dean Richlin. "They say $775 million is not enough. The commonwealth says enough is enough."

The lawyers, awarded $775 million by an arbitration panel, have sued Massachusetts to recover an additional $1.25 billion over the next 25 years they say they're owed for negotiating a landmark settlement with tobacco companies. Richlin says this amount is equivalent to $17,000 for each hour they worked on the case.

The firms are the only ones nationwide to challenge how much they were paid for negotiating the massive $246 billion multistate lawsuit settlement. In other states, lawyers have agreed to receive less than what they were contractually owed.

Two law firms - Brown Rudnick Berlack & Israels and Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein - say they signed a 25 percent contingency fee agreement with Massachusetts in 1995 and in doing so took on all the financial risks to sue an industry that had never paid to settle any public health claims.

"There wasn't anything in there that said 'if we don't like the amount, we're not going to pay you,'" Popeo said.

As one of its key witnesses against the law firms, the state will present a former partner at Brown Rudnick who did the most work on the case.

Richlin said the state will also present three former presidents of Massachusetts Bar Association, who say $775 million constitutes a reasonable fee.

The three other firms that worked for Massachusetts have not joined the suit, but could stand to benefit if the court rules in the law firms' favor.

"Ultimately this case is going to determine whether the state is bound by the same laws as you and me," Popeo said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: antismokers; bans; butts; cigarettes; individualliberty; niconazis; prohibitionists; pufflist; smokingbans; taxes; tobacco
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Do NOT forget!  It's the SMOKERS WHO PAY TAXES ON CIGARETTES that are paying for the Tobacco Settlement!  NOT the Government, and NOT Big Tobacco.  THE SMOKERS!

So.......are they going to raise taxes on cigarettes in Mass AGAIN??????

1 posted on 11/04/2003 8:13:48 PM PST by SheLion
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To: *puff_list; Just another Joe; Great Dane; Max McGarrity; Tumbleweed_Connection; Madame Dufarge; ...
The poor smokers in Mass...........sorry guys.
2 posted on 11/04/2003 8:14:21 PM PST by SheLion (Curiosity killed the cat BUT satisfaction brought her back!!!)
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To: SheLion
Some one should tell these lawyers that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have (with due respects to Tommy Jefferson)
3 posted on 11/04/2003 8:20:52 PM PST by 2banana
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To: SheLion
I think this is hysterical. Taxachusetts made a deal and now they want to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs in order to get more eggs out.

If the attorneys prevail, they will be entitled to MORE fees because they had to sue to collect the fees.

ha ha ...... ha
4 posted on 11/04/2003 8:28:09 PM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: SheLion
The smart smokers in Mass don't buy their cigs in Mass.

They will keep adding taxes until there is a black market such as the one seen on the streets of New York City.

Psssst!!!!You want to buy a pack of cigs,bub?


5 posted on 11/04/2003 8:30:37 PM PST by Mears
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To: SheLion
Massachussetts really has these lawyers smoking. Hee,hee,hee, sue the lawyers for polluting the air. Poetic justice....injustice....whatever, is the sweetest kind.
6 posted on 11/04/2003 8:40:23 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell (If you seen yourself as other people do, you'd laugh too.)
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To: SheLion
You can bet it won't be just smokers in NJ. They will pay no matter where they are from!
7 posted on 11/04/2003 8:40:55 PM PST by Sunshine Sister
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To: SheLion
Mass:Taxachusetts Robs Lawyers Who Helped It Rob the Tobacco Industry

There's no honor among thieves.

8 posted on 11/04/2003 8:44:13 PM PST by #3Fan
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To: SheLion
There they go again in Mass-a-taxes!!!
9 posted on 11/04/2003 9:02:46 PM PST by GeronL (Visit www.geocities.com/geronl)
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To: GeronL
Watching sharks in a feeding frenzy can be breathtaking....or greedy lawyers fighting greedy politicians. Then again how do you tell the difference?!
10 posted on 11/04/2003 9:06:57 PM PST by blastdad51 (Proud father of an Enduring Freedom vet, and friend of a soldier lost in Afghanistan)
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To: blastdad51
Nope its a tiger by the tail. The politicians thought they were being "cute" buy trying to place a dollar cap. They were fools, it is like playing with black magic. The courts do not look at the amount of the fee as to whether the parties had a knowing agreement. The politicians have to basically testify that they were ignorant as to what they were signing.

They SHOULD have made a sliding scale in which the percentages go down as the dollar amounts go up at each incrimnet. Perhasp 25% of the first 50 million and then 20% of the next fifty and so on. reaching a maximum minimum of 5% per 50 million. But hey, these politicians are soooooo smart.
11 posted on 11/04/2003 9:14:46 PM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: SheLion
Big BUMP for the morning!!!!
12 posted on 11/04/2003 10:00:27 PM PST by Gabz (Smoke-gnatzies - small minds buzzing in your business - SWAT'EM)
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To: SheLion
"Is a deal a deal? Is a promise a promise? Is a contract a contract?"

Funny to hear a lawyer ask this. He, of all people, should know the answer:

Only If You Can Enforce It.

13 posted on 11/04/2003 11:50:45 PM PST by Bonaparte
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To: SheLion; Gabz; Mears
It is kind of gratifying, watching the hyenas sqabble over the bones.
14 posted on 11/05/2003 2:29:25 AM PST by metesky ("Brethren, leave us go amongst them." Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton - Ward Bond- The Searchers)
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To: SheLion
Democrats and their lawyers....

They'll get together again. Why, I wouldn'
t doubt that the lawyers are having trouble parking the money, and that later they will get more in intrest and penalties from Democrat judges.. Twisted, corrupt, dark but this is Massachusetts.
15 posted on 11/05/2003 3:56:09 AM PST by Leisler
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To: SheLion
If I was from Mass LandoKennedy I'd only pay 1/4 of my state income tax. I'd attach a note saying, "I feel 1/4 is fair. After all enough is enough."
16 posted on 11/05/2003 4:18:31 AM PST by Conspiracy Guy (Living fast is fine as long as you steer well and have good brakes.)
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To: longtermmemmory
I think this is hysterical. Taxachusetts made a deal and now they want to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs in order to get more eggs out.

It's like THIS longtermmemmory:


17 posted on 11/05/2003 5:10:45 AM PST by SheLion (Curiosity killed the cat BUT satisfaction brought her back!!!)
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To: Sunshine Sister
You can bet it won't be just smokers in NJ. They will pay no matter where they are from!

Why do you think they want their paws in the Internet so bad????

18 posted on 11/05/2003 5:11:58 AM PST by SheLion (Curiosity killed the cat BUT satisfaction brought her back!!!)
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To: Leisler

In Texas, the lawyers got 2.5 BILLION for doing practically nothing since the water on the tobacco suit was carried by other states and Texas was late to the trough. But one good result was that our dem Attorney General at the time, Dan Morales, got even more greedy, made up some false expense accounts for his trial lawyer buddies, and is now sitting in jail.
19 posted on 11/05/2003 5:19:08 AM PST by kittymyrib
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To: SheLion
Do NOT forget! It's the SMOKERS WHO PAY TAXES ON CIGARETTES that are paying for the Tobacco Settlement! NOT the Government, and NOT Big Tobacco. THE SMOKERS!

I've known that all along.

And to the smoker, what difference does it make whether the state keeps more, or the law firms get more?
This does not affect the total amount, just how the legal thugs and the thugs with the guns divvy it up.

20 posted on 11/05/2003 5:19:44 AM PST by Publius6961 (40% of Californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
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