Plaintiffs’ Lawyers in a Bitter Dispute Over Fees in Gulf Oil Spill Cases | Ocala.com
(read the complete article here):
http://www.ocala.com/article/20111203/ZNYT02/112033006
But the litigation involving BP has become especially bitter because of a request to the judge last month by the 17-member leadership asking to create a fund that could be used to cover litigation costs. They asked for 6 percent of all judgments and settlements after Nov. 7, the date of the filing, including those for people who have dropped out of the lawsuits and negotiated their own recoveries from the $20 billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility administered by Kenneth R. Feinberg.
It does not apply to damages already paid out by the Feinberg fund, more than $5.7 billion in claims to hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses. But many more settlements are expected before trial, and the 6 percent could amount to tens of millions of dollars.