Court, Gov. Davis Call $88 Million Fee Outrageous!

San Diego - In the wake of the decision by a Sacramento Court of Appeal to slash unreasonable attorneys fees of $88 million in a lawsuit against the state, San Diego County Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) is joining in on the call to State Attorney General Bill Lockyer to demand time records and a full accounting of attorneys seeking fees of $1.25 billion from California's tobacco settlement.

One lawyer in the case has claimed that more than 400,000 collective hours were spent working toward settlement. CALA says that even if the documentation exists to support that, the award still amounts to an "outrageous" rate of $3,125 per hour for the lawyers.

"Governor Gray Davis criticized the $88 million attorney fees as 'not only unconscionable but unconstitutional," said Andy Kotner, President of San Diego County Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA). "What about a fee of $1.25 billion being taken away from health care in California, without the taxpayers even knowing what they paid for?"

Kotner added that a state $24 billion in debt shouldn't' be forced to give away another $1.25 billion without a full public accounting of who the lawyers were that worked on the case, what they did, how much time they spent, and what role they played in the outcome of the case.

CALA is a nonprofit, public education, grassroots organization that serves as a watchdog over the legal system and those who would abuse it for undeserved gain. More than 8,000 San Diego County consumers are CALA supporters.

# # #

This page was last updated on 04/19/05