Mass:Taxachusetts Robs Lawyers Who Helped It Rob the Tobacco Industry
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.
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.
More hands in our pockets. How sweet!
This was something that occurred during the Clinton administration when state governments saw the inherent money spigot of frivolous civil litigation against legitimate corporate entities.
The ambulance-chasing parasites who initiated these lawsuits should have known beforehand that the government was going to get its take.
no those are contingency type contracts.
The client and attorney trade a percentage in the future for putting up money up front.
If the case dragged on the percentage is the same and the hourly rate would have gone down.